Black Lace and Painted Wings
by Nishiki-chan27
Summary: All you need to know: Celesta is my OC. She can fly. She is in love with Lavi. Read for further details. If things don't make sense in the later chapters because of my bad info on the first five, I'm sorry. Don't like, don't read/review/flame.
1. Photograph

A/N: I have been trying SO hard to come up with a good way to make this character, and I think I finally came up with it. I mostly just had a template I wanted her to fit, but I finally have her!!! Please review and tell me if you think she's okay…no matter when! Also, I made up Skelling, Arizona. If there is a Skelling, please tell me so I can change it. And as a final word before the disclaimer, each chapter has a theme song. This one's theme song is "Photograph" by Nickelback. I do not own D. Gray-Man, because I'm just not that cool.

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"I can't believe this is the place…" She black haired girl looked up at the looming building. She had been told it was foreboding but this… the phrase that came to mind was "Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory".

Sighing, she picked up her knapsack, which was filled with what was left of her few belongings. This was a time when she kinda wished she had asked if- what was that guy named again? Toma, or something?- would come with her. If that didn't work, get down on her knees and literally BEG.

With another heavy sigh, she continued onward. She began to randomly wonder if someone would talk to her of their own accord. People often avoided her because she looked really, _really _scary to people who had experience with the Clan of Noah. As it was, from what she knew, her grandmother had been a Noah. Neither of her parents or her older brother had inherited the looks. And of course SHE had to be the unlucky one who scared people. But she was used to it. She had looked like a serial killer for her past 19 years of life.

There were times when people over-reacted that she thought about really freaking them out and activating what Toma had referred to as 'Innocence'. It was pretty scary-looking, seeing as it resembled a banshee. Get really crazy on them.

_Naw, I wouldn't go THAT far. _She thought. _I would never show my face anywhere again if I sunk that low._

A little black golem like the one she had seen Toma with flapped in her face. "Please state your name."

"Huh?" She said like she was brain-dead. Mentally slapping herself, she regained what composure she had left. "Uhm, I'm Celesta Mae Treani. I was told to come here by…Toma, I think?"

"Another person?" Komui asked.

"She just showed up." A sleep-deprived Reever replied. "Kinda like Allen. Only this time we don't have to search your messy desk. I remember the call from Toma."

"Really? Wherever from?"

Reever sighed. The Chief was so beyond stupid sometimes. "From Arizona, remember? Skelling, where the 'banshees' had been attacking?"

"Check the records, just in case. She looks…suspicious."

There had been about 13.2 minutes of searching through several golems' memory when they were reminded _why _they were searching these golems. "Um, HELLO? Did I, like, get rejected? Or something? Will somebody tell me what's going on?" The annoyed 19-year-old's voice brought them back to the fact that a new Exorcist had showed up. "It's starting to rain, so let me in or throw me out." There was a pause and she cocked her head to the side. "You realize I'm used to being thrown out on my butt so telling me to get lost isn't rude."

"She's gonna be a fun one." Komui said. "Reever, get her situated for me."

"WHAAT?! Why me?!" Reever growled.

"Fine, get someone ELSE to do it, but just find someone for me." He started walking off then stopped. "And make sure she _isn't _a suspicious character."

_Where's he going in such a hurry? _Reever wondered. Until, of course, Celesta threw a big rock at the window, causing it to break. "Excellent aim." He muttered.

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In the dining hall, Allen, Lenalee, Lavi and Chaoji (Kanda had left after fiercely ignoring the other four) sat eating their dinner. All except Chaoji who, despite a month or so of seeing Allen's disturbing eating habits, always lost his appetite if sat within a 30 meter radius of him.

"Allen, I've seriously been contemplating you don't have a stomach." Lavi said, causing the white-haired Exorcist to pause in eating. "I'm pretty sure all of that food goes into an alternate dimension in which a human could survive for 10 or more years."

This remark lightened the mood, earning Lavi a bunch of laughs from everyone but Allen who rewarded him with a swift kick in the shin. Just then another wave of thunder caused the Order to shiver, scaring the inhabitants. Some people close to the windows fell off their chairs and yelped with surprise and occasional pain, while others just yelped in surprise.

"Jeez, I swear one of these days this place is going to fall apart during a gale." Lavi muttered, righting himself from where he'd been on the floor. The sudden yelling had surprised him into jumping out of his chair.

"Please don't say that, Lavi!" Whimpered Chaoji. "I hate storms."

"It's okay!" Lenalee's well-honed motherly instincts (courtesy of Komui) leapt into action. "Lavi was only joking. This home is more well-made than you think!"

Once again, the thunder rolled across the roof of the Black Order, causing another shock wave of yelps and cries and the sound of Allen choking on the dango he had been eating. Lavi jumped to the rescue by whacking Allen's back and finally the goop dislodged itself from his throat. Unfortunately, it landed on Reever who had suddenly shown up.

"Sorry, Reever!" Allen said quickly, and then suddenly stiffened up. Just beyond his right shoulder was a tall black-haired girl around Lavi's height looking as though she had just been saved from drowning in a pool. The sight brought back some really terrible memories, and he felt Lenalee, who was sitting next to him, stiffen up. "Um…"

"Its okay, Allen…" Reever grumbled, but the tone in his voice indicated otherwise. He suddenly noticed the distress being caused and decided to cut to the chase. "Anyway, before I get back to work, Komui asked me to introduce you to our newest Exorcist; Celesta, this is Allen Walker, Lavi, Chaoji Han, and Lenalee Lee."

No one said a word, so Celesta assumed these people assumed she was not an ally. Sending a death glare at them that even Kanda would have a hard time beating, she looked like she didn't give a crap what they thought of her. Reever sensed the fur flying before it started and took into account Celesta's pale skin and tawny eyes. To the four who had been in the battle of the Ark, she probably brought back bad memories. Her giving them a look like she may very well decide to kill them probably wasn't helping her already sorry case.

"Please try to get along; I don't have any more time for this." Reever begged. "I don't need you to be best friends, I'm not asking you to be either, but I need someone to get Celesta orientated." The four looked at each other, as if debating the chances of who would win if they drew straws. Reever sighed again. Looking over at Celesta, whose death glare had not wavered since she got there, he really began to wonder if he shouldn't have just dropped this on Johnny. _No, the poor guy would probably get killed._

"I honestly have a lot to do today, so if you could figure this out without adult supervision it would be great." Reever told them. _Behave…behave…behave… _he silently ordered. Hoping that when he turned around he would not hear the sounds of a massacre, he left.

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Celesta landed face-first with a _flop_ on her new bed. Her room was okay sized, bigger than the flat she had to share with four other people in the apartment building in Skelling. Ah, Skelling. If all Hell was let loose, it would head straight for Skelling. Bad stuff always happened in Skelling. It was like there was a big glow-in-the-dark neon colored sign that screamed (with theme music) "If you feel like causing a huge problem, come here!"

With a soft chuckle that came out a snort, she thought about her two best friends in the whole wide world, Elizabeth and Melody. The things they got up to were a riot. Such as actually making a sign (just painted, they didn't have glow-in-the-dark resources) that said "SKELLING! Home of the largest collection of CIA and government secrets since Area 51!" That got a huge laugh from the townspeople who needed a brighter morning.

Another funny incident was when the three girls had switched all of the Aspirin boxes in the city to laxative boxes and then played loud music. Unfortunately, several annoying wanna-be punk-rockers and children who thought they were the epitome of emo to their sides, all thinking it was a rave. The punch line was when the fire department got involved and chased off the huge group. They got chastised for playing loud music past curfew (if there was really a curfew), but weren't discovered for the laxative prank. That landed on the head of a wanna-be punk-rocker-emo who didn't get the message about leaving.

Celesta took out a photo of her and Elizabeth and Melody at Halloween when they all got did up as The Crow from those old comics and went to a party that ending with the three getting kicked out because they had switched off all the lights in the house. Elizabeth had her blonde hair tied back in a French braid. Her periwinkle-blue eyes stood in stark contrast to the black eye makeup in a triangle below and above her eye. Melody had ginger-brown hair and luminous green eyes even without the black to accent them. And then there was Celesta, who didn't need any white face make-up because of her already obnoxiously pale complexion. Their smiles were huge and care-free.

She felt a hot wetness rolling down her cheeks. She quickly wiped the tears away. _Why am I so upset? _She wondered. _I don't remember the last time I cried like this…not even when I said goodbye to them for good at graduation. Not even at my parent's and brother's funeral._

Deciding it was because of being in a new unfamiliar place, she put the photo away and picked up her notebook. Flipping through the pages she found one that had no writing on it. To keep from getting upset over something stupid like being sentimental, she went over the day's events, writing them down so she wouldn't forget them.

Got to the Black Order. Was greeted by the four Exorcists known as Lavi, Lenalee, Chaoji, and Allen. Introduced to them by chief of the Science Department Reever.

The aforementioned drew straws over who was to take me on a tour.

Was given 'the tour' by Lenalee.

Literally ran into Miranda and Kanda while falling down three flights of stairs.

Gawked at by several people. Some ran for cover.

Cleared the entire dining hall at dinner just by showing up.

Fell down the…hole..Hevlaska's chambers were located in.

Tripped over a bug.

Ran into a pillar on way to the library.

Ran into the same pillar on way out of the library.

Got locked out of own bedroom.

Once found the key, forgot which room was mine.

Sat down to write.

The thing accomplished:

Made no new friends

Managed to not break any bones despite the amount of klutziness exercised.

Ah, yes. Her day in a nutshell. Proof of how welcome she was at the Black Order.

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A/N: the actual story took up 4 pages. That felt like a really little bit considering I worked on it for 3 days (anger mark). I hope to put in more about the Clan of Noah. I love Road and Tyki-Pon! And I'm debating bringing Elizabeth and Melody into the story…it's tempting. Please tell me, and please review! If you do I will give you a mental hug!!!!!


	2. The Bells First Stanza

A/N: Thank you for those of you who reviewed my first chapter. That was awesome. The theme song for this chapter is actually the poem "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe. I do not own D. Gray-Man.

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Celesta woke up to a knock on her door. She rolled over sleepily and stared at it. Was someone actually giving a shit she existed? Or were they just lost? All the stupid doors looked the same anyway.

She had fallen asleep in the black Exorcist uniform (minus the coat) and what had been poking her back all night. It was the belt she had been wearing…only as a fashion statement. She was lanky, but not starved.

Walking over to the door, she wondered if they would still be there or if they had turned around and walked away. Man would she look stupid if they had left and she was looking for them. _I guess they already think I'm crazy. My sorry case can't much sorrier. _Mentally shrugging, she opened the door.

To her (obvious) surprise it was Lenalee. She was certain her face conveyed her exact feelings. Mentally slapping herself (as she did on a regular basis), Celesta tried to get a grip. In the past 3 days of her Exorcist career, Lenalee was the only person who would actually talk to her. It shouldn't be such a big surprise Miss Motherly-Instinct would come up. No, actually it was. That was taking motherly to a whole new level: Stalker Mom.

After a very, _very _long pause, Lenalee realized she should probably make the first move. At the same time, Celesta seriously considered closing the door before she said something stupid just to fill the big empty hole of silence.

"OH! Um, right, I came up here because…" Lenalee babbled and mentally slapped herself. "Sorry, I just… morning."

Celesta cocked her head to one side. "Morning."

"I came up to tell you, uh…" Lenalee shyly looked to the side. "Would you like to have breakfast with me and my friends?"

Another long and uncomfortable silence echoed around their heads. Celesta wondered what she should say? Had Lenalee actually thought this through, or was she just acting on motherly impulse?

Finally, because Celesta hated the silence, she said "Sure…"

"Great! Come on, then." Celesta followed, wondering vaguely if the entire dining hall would clear out again. Then, she realized the sun hadn't even come up all the way yet.

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"I wonder why Lenalee came and woke us up so early." Lavi muttered with a yawn. For Lavi, anything before 11:00 A.M. was way too early.

"Well, it has to be something important." Miranda offered. She didn't mind lack of sleep. "I mean, why else would she wake us up at 5 o' clock?"

"She better hope it's important…" muttered Kanda. He didn't do early mornings and dealing with Beansprout. But he had grudgingly gotten up. He hated early mornings and dealing with a P.O.'ed Lenalee even more than dealing with the mentioned above.

Lenalee and Celesta showed up just then. Leading her toward the group, Lenalee waved to them from across the dining hall. It was admittedly a small group, just Lavi, Allen, Kanda, and Miranda. Lenalee had been looking for Marie and Krory and Chaoji until she thought about size of the group and Celesta being new. That and having Miranda around was probably moral support. Someone to be role model. Miranda had come a long way from being a scared, lost puppy to being a brave, smart woman. She had her moments, but she was more charismatic than they had thought.

"Good morning!" Lenalee chirped. _She's trying way, way too hard to sound positive. _Lavi thought.

"Morning…" came the sleepy chorus.

Celesta looked at the tired faces. These were the people she would be working with for some time. She wondered how good an idea this was…she couldn't even remember anyone's name! Heck, the only time she had ever met Kanda and Miranda was when slamming into them on the second floor landing.

"Okay! Now that we're all here…" Lenalee's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought about what they would talk about. Drawing a blank, she looked at Miranda, then Lavi for someone to bail her out. Lavi blinked twice, and then got the message.

"Hey Celesta, do you like…dogs?" Lavi thought of the most generic thing he could. Either he'd get a "No, I'm a cat person" or "Yeah, dogs are cool".

"Um, yeah. I had one way back when." She looked a little surprised to be asked something like that, but answered readily. "She was a Border Collie."

"I love puppies!" Miranda said with a huge smile. Celesta couldn't do anything but smile back. She was adorable when she did that. "What was her name?"

"Her name was Tallie. She was really sweet." Celesta looked at the others. Lavi had a slightly cocky smile. Allen was still quiet, but didn't seem to mind that the conversation had turned to dogs. He had a somewhat preoccupied expression. Was something bothering him? Kanda was still silent. The ever-stoic swordsman was admittedly intimidating, and she didn't dare pester him. EVER.

Miranda was still gushing about how adorable dogs were and had gone into a story about a puppy she had known before she had joined the order…and the several she met along missions.

Celesta backed out of the conversation for awhile. She listened in and tuned out as she pleased. The conversation switched topics, went to stories, making fun of each other, and vocal jousts. Celesta joined in several times, too, and found out how extremely likeable these people were. How much this felt like a conversation one would have with their best friends.

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Lately, Celesta had taken to staring out of the windows in the library. She liked watching the clouds go past and birds flying. Ever since she was really little, she had held onto the desire to fly far away. She didn't know why; it's not like flying away will make your problems go away.

She had been sketching in her notebook when she felt the undying urge to look out the window at the birds flying around. She was sketching what people's 'spirit animals' were, which she did often. Drawing was about the only thing she could do really, really well. She liked to play piano but she wasn't anything special.

The sketch she was working on was that of a couple of loping wolves. The snow was thrown up around their paws as they danced across the frozen ground. She hadn't decided who these two belonged to. They didn't have anything special in the way of markings, just plain grey wolves. She shut the notebook in a sudden fit of annoyance and watched the birds soar above the roof on warm updrafts.

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Opening her notebook to the page she had been working on, Celesta glared at the two wolves. It was like they were mocking her. She felt like it was so obvious who they were, but couldn't tell. Sighing, she pinned the annoyance the fact she had had a long day. Between dealing with that stupid Inspector Rouvelier and then wondering herself sick over what he meant by "Find out if you're going to be of any use" and then getting so annoyed with herself for worrying over something so little she had tired herself out.

Sighing she took off her coat and opened a book she had borrowed from the library at random. She hadn't even taken the time to see what it was. Looking at the cover she saw it was a collection of stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. She had opened to "The Bells". Looking at the first stanza, she realized she had memorized this poem for something in junior high.

"Hear the sledges with the bells- silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!" She murmured. Her favorite poem by Edgar Allan Poe in the world was dog eared in this book.

_I wonder who else likes Poe… I should ask if anybody knows. _Flipping through the pages for more dog ears, she found out the rest of the ones people loved. "The Raven" and "The Black Cat" were obvious, but the rest of them… "The Lake", "For Annie", "Hopfrog", and "The Fall of the House of Usher"... they were all less known. And some of her favorites, too.

"_For Annie"…who would like such a morbid poem beside me? And "the Bells"? Who else is a die-hard Poe reader?_ Contemplating this, she decided to go through some of them. Sometimes people liked poems that they felt they could relate to. Maybe the choices could tell her a bit more about them.

Finally, after combing through the book, still nothing. Sighing, she put the book on the floor next to her and turned out the light. Sleep sounded good. Sleep was her friend.

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Celesta stood alone in a silent a town, where it was snowing all over. The white fluff landed in her hair and on her shoulders, but it wasn't cold. Looking up at the sky, she saw no clouds. Just a huge, pale, full moon and the stars twinkling around it.

"I must be dreaming…" she said, and her voice echoed. A soft bell chime sounded, far away, like from a cathedral in the town that appeared to be miles away…

Several more bell chimes joined the first, and a soft chorus could be heard.

"_Hear the sledges with the bells-_

_Silver bells!_

_What a world of merriment their melody foretells!"_

_How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,_

_In the icy air of night!_

_While the stars, that oversprinkle_

_All the heavens, seems to twinkle_

_With a crystalline delight;_

_Keeping time, time, time,_

_In a sort of Runic rhyme_

_To the tintinnabulation of the bells, bells, bells,_

_Bells, bells, bells, bells,_

_To the jingling and the tinkling of the bells."_

The bell chimes started to echo away and Celesta wondered why "The Bells" would run through her head…even for a dream this was weird.

She looked up again at the sky. The unrealistically huge moon looked as if it could crush her. Shuddering she closed her eyes and hoped that would help her escape this strange dreamland.

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"Hey, Celesta, are you okay? You look like you had a rough night." Allen's concerned face popped into her view.

"It's nothing…" She said. Funny he was talking to her this morning. He seemed to be the least willing to accept her. Putting that thought away, she looked at him. His face looked like he didn't entirely believe her, and she laughed a bit. "Honestly, it's nothing. I just had a weird dream."

"Dreams can be important. You shouldn't just pass it off as nothing." Allen told her.

"Allen, I swear it's nothing. I just got worked up over something I read in a book."

"That one?" He asked, pointing to the book of poems she had been carrying. "It looks like it would give you a troubling dream."

Allen was right. The cover was scary looking enough, without all of her favorite stories and poems marked down and reciting themselves in her sleep. On the cover was "the Black Cat"'s Pluto, licking his paw and staring out with the one eye missing.

Disturbing though it was, it was mesmerizing too. The cat looked like it knew some big, important secret and that intrigued her. Celesta could just stare at it for hours if she had that sort of time.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast. I'm hungry." Allen said.

"You're always hungry, aren't you?" Celesta said an air of teasing in her voice.

"Shut up."

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Bleh. I didn't like the very last part. It's hard for me to write about Allen. Anyhow, please review! Any comments are great!


	3. My Own Two Hands

A/N: Thank you infinitely to those of you who reviewed! I have taken your thoughts into account, and will probably use them. Probably. If not, it's because I have other ideas I really want to use. Sorry. The theme song for this chapter is "Say When" by The Fray. I do not own D. Gray-Man…I can only wish.

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"Uff!" Celesta's breath was knocked out of her (again) as she hit the wall of the sand-floored practice arena. She had been sparring with Lavi for the past hour or so and had not gotten one hit in. Her Innocence's form had disappeared, and she felt awfully pathetic. She couldn't keep its form up if she got knocked around.

"Hey, Celesta? You're okay, right?" Lavi's voice was heightened a bit from the stress of seeing her getting knocked around so much. He had hit her awful hard, and she hadn't eaten much at breakfast, so she might be low on energy.

"'M fine. C'mon, I'm not getting any younger or any better at this." her Innocence's form flared up again. Its ghostly face was half obscured by a veil that covered its eyes, if it had any. A long dress-tunic thing covered all of its legs and made it appear to have no feet, unless it stepped forward. Long blades were where it's hands should be, not unlike Fo's blades, as Allen had thought when he walked past (lost again from arguing with Kanda).

"O-okay…" She was really persistent, like she refused to stop unless she was literally about to die. Lavi was pretty sure if she kept this up she might. Without any warning she sent the banshee-like creature forward. Bracing himself, Lavi prepared for an impact on his hammer that never came.

He blinked in surprise. The banshee had disappeared, but the tribal marks on Celesta's shoulders hadn't faded yet. He thought he saw her lips twitch into a smile for a second, and the sand behind him exploded. He had about two seconds to react before the spirit's blade would hit him.

"Hammer of fire!" the flames licked up the sand, when he remembered sand and fire made glass. Great. That would stop an Innocence spirit. It greatly surprised him when it actually did.

He was more surprised when a booted foot made contact with the side of his head. _It was a distraction?!_ He thought, embarrassed he had fallen for it.

"Hey!" he shouted whirling around. "You cheated!"

"Ohh, we're not happy about losing?" She jeered from behind a smile. "It's about time I got a hit in!"

"Losing? Who said we were done?"

A startled shriek escaped her lips as he lunged, the hammer coming just inches away from where she stood. A pillar of fire wrapped around where she had stood. He made sure that he wouldn't hurt her…just hopefully freak her out. When the smoke cleared, there was a protective glass dome around her. The thin glass was iridescent, like a bubble that would pop if it was touched. The fragile form suddenly shattered, and the tiny fragments melted and slowly reformed into the Innocence's usual form.

Celesta looked just as surprised as Lavi when it had started reforming. There was a moment of complete silence while the hooded banshee creature reformed itself, then she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Lavi demanded. In his opinion, that was _disturbing._

"I-I- I just…" she gasped for breath. "I was… I got really freaked out and it just… there was this moment, I felt like something in my mind clicked with hers…" She looked completely thrilled. "I was so scared of it for so long…"

Out of nowhere, she started to sway on her feet. The form of her Innocence faltered and faded as Celesta fell over. Lavi grabbed her arm before she hit the ground.

"Oh, shit! Did I hurt you anywhere really badly?!"

"No… I just feel… really… tired." She replied. She looked up and grinned at him. "I guess this is one of those side effect things Hevlaska warned me about, huh? From invoking my Innocence for too long with a low sync rate."

"Haha… probably. Here, I'll help you to the Infirmary."

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"Lavi, I'm ashamed of you." Head Nurse said after fuming for about twenty minutes while she tried to get an idea of exactly what Celesta needed. "You shouldn't have let her go on like that for so long. That was extremely dangerous."

"Sorr-"

"It wasn't Lavi's fault…" Celesta said from where she was sitting on one of the starched-white beds. "I told him I was fine, I wanted to get better at fighting. I knew I shouldn't have kept my Innocence invoked for so long with such a low synchronization rate. I pushed myself way too hard. I'm sorry."

Head Nurse looked from Celesta back to Lavi. With a sigh, she muttered "Kids these days. They're so reckless." Celesta snorted in reply. Head Nurse went off to get whatever it was she need to give to Celesta, leaving her and Lavi alone.

There was a long amount of silence. Lavi considered leaving, and Celesta considered asking him about the book of Poe. He spent a bunch of time in the library, too. She wasn't sure if it was by choice or because the scary old midget man forced him to, though…

"Hey Lavi?" She asked softly.

"Uh huh?" He looked over at her, the one emerald eye looking at her earnestly. "Do you need something?" he paused. "You're not gonna hurl, are ya?"

"No!" she said, mildly annoyed. "I just wanted to ask you about this book I picked up yesterday."

"Just because I'm Bookman's apprentice doesn't mean that's the only thing I can talk about."

She blushed a pale red and looked down. "That's not what I mean, I just-" she broke off, and to Lavi sounded genuinely upset about something. Once again, he had to remind himself (late) that there was a time and a place for things to be said.

Celesta was lost in her thoughts and hadn't really thought much about how it would sound to ask him. Today was too much. First the weird dream and then making real contact with her Innocence for the first time…

She felt awful and just wanted to pass out and sleep without dreams and not deal with anyone. _It's like de ja vu. The only time I've felt like this was when I ran into those Finders and the Akuma. When I figured out how to attack using the banshee's powers…I'd never used it before. I'd been too scared when it first came to me. I'm still scared of it. I don't understand anything about it. _

"Oh hey, I'm sorry. I was just joking." Shocked out of her thoughts, she was reminded of Lavi sitting inches away from her. A wave of nausea hit her and she looked away. He tried to look her in the eye, but she did a pretty good job of keeping him at bay. Mostly she was just afraid he would see her face and worry about her more than he was already. She was pretty certain she looked as bad as she felt.

"It's fine…" she mumbled. "I've felt like I can't figure out this huge problem when the answer is staring me right in the face. I want to figure out one little piece before I start breaking."

Lavi didn't say anything. He was practically useless in times like these. To his momentary relief, Head Nurse opened the door, and he backed up immediately, running into a chair that had been sitting there. It toppled over to Head Nurse's great amusement. Momentary relief gone.

"It's alright, Lavi. These aren't for you, you're fine." She had a smirk on her elderly face, like she knew something he didn't. He suddenly felt very much the way he assumed Celesta was feeling. Like he knew too, just couldn't figure it out.

"Um, I'll be going now, then…" he said and started out the door.

"Uh, Lavi? Can you stay, please?" He turned around and saw Celesta looking really sheepishly at him. "I hate needles. Can you stay for mental support?"

He couldn't help but smile at her. "You got all beat up by me and you didn't say anything. An IV comes out and need somebody to stick around to distract you?"

"More like hold my hand. I seriously hate needles."

"Well, at least you're honest!" Head Nurse chuckled to herself. "I hate people who don't tell me this until I've put alcohol on their arm. They always tense up or jerk and it slips!"

"Ooog…" she looked down, appearing paler than usual.

Lavi came over and squeezed her hand. Her hands were surprisingly soft for how much working she had been doing. Also, sand couldn't be great for her skin. Pushing that thought away, he focused on her. He was still smiling as he sat down. "You're really something."

"Eh heh…" She looked up weakly. "That what everybody tells me."

"Lavi would just give anything to hold a cute girl's hand." A voice said from the doorway. Lavi turned around to see Allen and a bedraggled Krory come in. Allen was smirking in a way he didn't normally, and Krory was an odd shade of pale green.

"Oh, dear!" Head Nurse looked up from the rubbing alcohol she was applying to the inside of Celesta's arm. She set down the soaked bit of cotton and bustled over to Allen. "What happened to him?!"

"Well, I don't know the details, but he came down for an early lunch and was sick all over the place. I was walking past…" he decided to cut the part about him trying to escape Link for an hour or two as Head Nurse helped him get Krory set up with a bucket until she got some medication. "And saw so I took him here. I didn't realize Celesta got so knocked up."

"Shut up, Beansprout." She said with her tawny hues narrowed.

"Aw, come on! Not you too! I can't come up with a witty nickname from 'Celesta'!" He whined.

That was when Lavi realized he was still holding Celesta's hand. He doubted she'd notice if he let go while she argued with Allen. He did and felt a little sad afterward. Her hands were warm.

It was probably another fifteen minutes before Head Nurse got back to Celesta and her IV. The needle phobia kicked in and squeezed Lavi's hand hard enough to break his fingers. He winced and she immediately apologized. The needle slipped in without any problem, but it was pretty gross how it made the skin bulge. A bandage was put over it to keep it in place.

"See? That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Lavi asked her.

"I'd love it so much if you were freaked out by something so small. I'd never let you or your masculine pride live it down." She smirked devilishly.

"Now you have to stay put for a couple of hours and preferably sleep." Head Nurse told her. Celesta looked at Lavi meaningfully as if to say "you better not abandon me. Show up later or I'll hunt you down". He chuckled and nodded mostly to himself.

"Come on, Lavi. We should probably let these two get a chance to get better." Allen said, putting a hand on the red-head's forearm. Celesta had smiled once in farewell then rolled onto her side as Allen attempted to drag the older boy around the now set up curtain. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah…" he looked back over at Celesta, who was looking out the window, her chest rising and falling rhythmically like she would fall asleep pretty soon. He could just watch her like that for hours.

"No you're not! Come ON, Lavi!" Allen tugged on him, and dragged him through the doorway.

Once the door had closed behind him, Lavi glanced over at Allen. "You were having a 'Chaste Allen' moment, huh?"

"What?!" Allen's blush betrayed him, if the tone in his voice hadn't already.

"You know. You get all flustered every time a girl is so much as brought into a conversation, much less having one in a tank top in front of you."

"You know, if she heard you, you wouldn't have a prayer with her."

"That's what you think." Even though Allen was probably right, he couldn't help it. Celesta was different from most other girls; there was an air of unrefined attitude to her.

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"Miss?" Krory asked softly.

"Hmm?" Celesta replied. She was watching the birds outside, even though the view wasn't great. She kind of missed her perch in the library.

"I'm not much when it comes to matters of the heart, but I think you mean something special to Lavi."

Celesta rolled over to look at him, which was hard because of the screen separating them. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he is usually very crude when it comes to talking around people. If you haven't heard by now some of the things he says, I'd venture you're deaf."

"I have, thank you very much. He's pretty funny when he wants to be."

"That's what I mean. He doesn't seem to speak so callously around you. And when he held your hand, he looked very sweet."

Celesta was suddenly very glad for the curtain. She didn't want him to see her blushing. "It didn't mean anything, you know. I just needed the mental support." Rolling over again, she went back to watching the birds ride thermal winds, once again wishing she could, too.

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A/N: _Say when and my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight, say when…_ I can't get that song outta my head! (please excuse author while she bangs head against wall) I think that's the only reason I chose it as this chapter's theme song. Anyway, this chapter felt pretty slow. I hope nobody is offended by it. And bit of info for those wondering: Edgar Allan Poe was 1809-1849. Centuries confuse me so make of it what you will. Please review!

Shii out!


	4. Haunting Prophecy

A/N: I forgot to mention it was supposed to be September when Celesta first showed up, so I'm telling you now. I've felt very much in a fall mood lately. Maybe cause it is fall. Whatever. The events in this chapter do not happen in the book. This chapter's theme song is "Pruit Igoe & Prophecies" by the Philip Glass ensemble. I do not own D. Gray-Man.

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Sudden wrinkle in time: September 19--- October 19

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Celesta was headed down the hall leading to Komui's office. She had a soft spring to her step, probably related to autumn's arrival. Arizona hadn't had much in the way of fall, it was much prettier here.

She was also pretty excited to be going on her first mission. It was something relatively stupid to get excited about, but still! The way things had been going lately she was probably lucky she was being trusted away from 'home'.

Her suspicious looks never failed her. That creeper, Rouvelier, had his eye on her. The annoyance that was Allen's guard (thankfully not hers) didn't spend as much time focusing on her as he was told to. He was (for once) actually disobeying an order. It made her pretty happy that he did this for her, but she didn't like Lenalee's reasoning of why.

"I think I know why he's uncharacteristically not uptight." Lenalee had said at breakfast that day before.

"What do you mean?" Lavi was the first to speak. In his opinion, letting Celesta out of his sight for weeks on end wasn't uncharacteristic; he was Allen's guard, not hers.

"Well, it's just guesswork, but I think he fancies Celesta."

Right about then was when she gave a swift kick under the table. She hit Lenalee's ankle and then Lavi's shin 'cuz he laughed. After all, it wasn't like she had done anything people _wouldn't _get away with. He had just been told to make sure she wasn't going to turn around and literally stab someone in the back.

Nevertheless, she didn't mind too much; it wasn't like they were tying her down. They had all their employees in that division on Allen. It made her secretly happy that while they didn't completely trust her, they did enough that she didn't need a guard.

At her arrival in Komui's office, she was greeted by the faces of Miranda and Allen. Miranda smiled a greeting to her as she sat down. Allen wasn't making any sign of noticing anything. Celesta looked at his face, the way he always looked preoccupied with something. It annoyed her. _ He_ annoyed her, for no reason in particular.

"Ahem," Komui cleared his throat to get the three Exorcist's attention. "I know you're sleepy, Allen, but it's time to focus. Please get your head out of the clouds." At no reaction, Celesta reached over and whacked his arm.

"Hey!" the 15 year old woke up from his daze and looked at her with a face that said "You have betrayed my tiny trust…" and "What the heck was that about?!" at the same time.

"Celesta, thank you. But that was a hint violent, don't you think?" Komui's voice held an air of amusement at her shrug. "Anyway, back to business. I'm sending you three to Venice, Italy. There have been many reports of a creature in the canals and waterways that goes around terrorizing the gondola riders in the evenings. A few rumors of people going missing, but none are confirmed. It doesn't sound like Innocence per se, but it could be an Akuma and we don't want it to wreak havoc on the people, right?"

Allen shuddered at the thought of another level 4 Akuma. He fervently hoped it wasn't something so extreme, considering how they had fared last time. If it hadn't been for Lenalee's Crystal Innocence, they would all be dead. And Lenalee wasn't coming this time, so if bad went to worst, there was a low survival rate.

"Allen?" Celesta whispered as Komui finished getting together last-minute papers. "You okay? You look kinda… sick. Are you sure you can go?"

"I'm fine!" he snapped weakly. "It's just nostalgia. I'll be okay."

"...And you're ready to go!" Komui interrupted. Miranda got up and walked out the door, Celesta and Allen behind her.

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The three were stuck waiting for a while at the station. The train had been delayed by a storm out in Italy. Miranda had decided to go for a short walk around town because of the two hour delay. Allen offered to go too, but she said she'd rather walk alone.

That left Celesta and Allen standing together with Toma, who had come back two days ago. Celesta was sitting on a bench with a deck of tarot cards, shuffling through them.

Allen was fascinated by the artwork when he could see it. She'd every once in awhile take one or two out and look at them. He hadn't realized he had slowly been walking forward until he hit his knees on the back of the bench she was sitting on, causing her to loll her head back and look at him with an amused smile.

"That was a failure." She said and then turned back to her cards. "You know, you can just say you're curious. I don't care if you want to look." She turned around again and gave a half smile to him. "You also need to work on how loud your footfalls are. I could hear you come over before you realized you had."

"Uh…" he turned an odd color of beet red. He watched her long, pale fingers shuffle the Tarot cards the same way one would shuffle their deck in a game of poker. She cut the deck and handed half to him.

"Cut it again." She told him. "Then hand the bottom half back to me."

Doing as he was told, she deftly took three cards from the middle of his small stack and held them face down inside her coat's sleeve. Setting down the rest of the deck, she took out the three cards. Setting them down on the bench, she turned over the one in the middle.

"This one is the present." She said and tapped the card. "It can also mean the problem in the moment, or the feelings causing an issue in your current life."

"Current life?" Allen asked. He had a sinking feeling he knew what it meant, but wanted to be told he was wrong or right before he let the reading get to his head. He had never put too much stock in psychics or fortune tellers. There had been a couple with him and Mana at the circus they traveled with, but they always told the people what they wanted to hear.

"Meaning, if you believe in reincarnation, that you could've been several people before you were born as yourself. For all you know, before Allen Walker existed, he may have been the captain of a sunken ship, or the emperor of China, or a pet that was very dear to a person."

"Could you, per se, be a reincarnation of someone you never met but are apparently related to… sort of?"

She gave him a quizzical look and cocked her head to the side. "Sorry, I'm sure what you're talking about. But, I guess, possibly.

"Anyway, you present card is 'The Knight of Swords'. It usually means a brave and courageous warrior, or someone who doesn't give up easily. He's sort of an archetype. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the person." She eyed him, her tawny hazel eyes appearing to take in his soul. "The card fits you. It's not mere coincidence that this card turned up." He peered at the knight, wielding a sword on a galloping horse as he appeared to be charging into a battle. An eagle soared overhead, and he could almost see the feathers rippling in the thermal wind.

Flipping over the card to the left of the valiant knight, she tapped it as she had before. "This usually indicates the past. Any form of the past, including memories. And yes, past lives." The card held a man on horseback, clad in black armor. The man held a staff with a wreath on it and a rolled up parchment in his other hand. It was upside down, and Allen got a very bad feeling from it.

Celesta looked at it as if worried what he may think. "This card is the 'Six of Wands', reversed. It means the loss of a battle, in which one or both sides weren't noble in their way of achieving what they wanted. It indicates bad news or prosecution…" she paused then, and Allen wondered if that was all.

"…Prosecution for murder, or for being a traitor. In other words, this card goes hand in hand with Death."

A shiver ran down Allen's spine. He could guess exactly what this card meant for him. The 14th was a part of him, and his past life, probably. No one was sure the 14th had been a noble person, even though he too wanted the downfall of the Millennium Earl.

Moving on, she turned over the final card on the far right. This one held a cloaked figure holding a scythe. The moon overhead was huge and had a mist cloaking the ground. A young girl was standing beside a rock, looking over at the cloaked figure. Allen didn't need to be told this card was Death.

Celesta tapped it, as she had the others. "The right symbolizes the future. But just because this is Death doesn't mean someone will die. Death symbolizes the ending to a journey, or a phase of life. It can be bad or good. But I'm not going to lie: it can mean physical death."

She put the cards back together in their pouch as the sound of the train's whistle blew. It was still a while off, but close enough that Miranda came sprinting to where they were. She paused, panting, and sat down beside Celesta.

Allen looked over at the two of them. Celesta was watching where the train would be coming around the bend. She showed no signs of her earlier distress at the cards drawn or the reading she had made.

It was like nothing had happened between them.

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A/N: I'm pretty happy with this chapter. I'm not very good at Tarot readings, I'll admit. I'm much better at palmistry and certain forms of water gazing. I'm not psychic, per se, but have a strong spiritual connection with this kind of thing. I haven't met anyone else who read Tarot cards, so if you do please tell me if I got the cards right. And please review!


	5. Venice, Italy

A/N: I know, I know. I need to get them to Italy. But I hit a writer's block, and will get right to Venice. And make it up to you. Thnx!

Disclaimer: Katsura Hoshino should get a Fan Fiction account just so that he can be the only one on the site to write "I do own D. Gray-Man". As it is, I am not Katsura Hoshino (or am I???).

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Once the three Exorcists had found their place on the train (Celesta was surprised by the way the person who greeted them had reacted; she was used to people running away, but not to get her a good car), Allen tried to talk to Celesta. She had seemed preoccupied since doing his reading. His nerves rubbed off on Miranda, who had finally gotten up with a shout of "Water! I need water!"

Once again, that left Celesta and Allen alone.

Silence ensued for a while. The only sound was that off the train clacking on the tracks and the occasional cough from the car across from them. Allen wondered if Celesta had fallen asleep or if she was suffering motion sickness. He hoped she had just fallen asleep.

"Hey, Celesta?" Allen asked nervously.

She looked over at him through the corner of her eye. "Yeah?"

"Um, are you okay? Pardon me if I'm prying, but you seem kind of…" He tried to think of something that would offend her. Long hours with Miranda had taught him that one word could set someone off into a fit of… something. "…what I mean is, you look like you're sick."

She looked over at him for real, unfolding her legs from the seat. "Sorry, I get that way sometimes. I over think something and give myself a headache." She sighed, turning her face back toward the window. "I have so many issues to work through. I've got to get stronger."

Miranda walked back in then, and felt much better. Fresh (?) air had cleared her head.

"So!" She said, attempting conversation. "What should do to pass the time?"

The young white haired teen looked over at her, followed by a glace from the other young woman curled in on herself from the seat. Miranda had never been good at being put on the spot. When people looked to her, she most commonly broke down and babbled. A couple of her intracranial connections blew up and she fished for something to say.

"Um, I mean…what I meant was, uh… umm, ah…" Miranda began to helplessly babble hoping that one of the two other Exorcists would bail her out.

Both looked away, and Miranda was momentarily relieved. Until silence ensued again.

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On their arrival in Venice, they took to the gondolas. It would give them a pretty good idea of the city's waterways and therefore make it easier to figure out exactly what was terrorizing the townsfolk.

After a couple of hours of riding the gondolas, the sun began to sink below the buildings. The three decided to split up for the evening and reconvene at the bridge nearest to the train station when the moon had risen above the tallest building in the town square. Miranda took the northern path; Allen volunteered to take the eastern and southern areas, considering there wasn't a ton of ground to cover. That left Celesta with the western area.

Not that she minded, because she liked to roam alone. As she walked, she contemplated whether or not she should borrow one of the smaller boats so she could get around faster. _Unfortunately, I hate water. _She thought sourly. She hadn't spent much time around water, considering that Arizona was basically one huge desert.

Her footfalls on the cobblestone echoed around the buildings. She felt like someone was watching her. For all she knew, someone might. Taking a quick look over her shoulder, she saw nothing. Scolding herself for being so paranoid, she kept on walking forward.

Celesta ended up in the town's square. She looked around the great cobblestone circle. In the center was a beautifully crafted marble fountain. The marble was that of a winged lion, huge and life-like. In the gathering darkness the usually white marble appeared darker, and looked more and more like shale. Celesta couldn't help but look at it. The way its wings curved into an arch across its back, almost touching in their overlap across its powerful hindquarters, the way its mane appeared to ripple, the way its eyes seemed to watch her every step.

As she continued onward, she heard a small voice, like that of a child, call to her. Pausing mid-step, she considered turning around. _Don't, _a tiny voice warned her. _It's likely a trap. Don't turn around. There's no one (living) there._

Once again the small voice cried out. It didn't say anything she could distinguish, but instead just cried out every once in a while. Celesta shook her head. There's no way, _no way_…

_But what if? What if it is a little kid who's lost on their way home? What if it gets caught by whatever's here? You were told by your brother: "You can't ever be too safe. Do what you need and then some, for the sake of the world."_

She turned, hating herself for it, and broke into a sprint listening for that small voice. _I don't know why I'm doing this…_ she thought. _It's not like living by Adrian's mantra will bring him back. …but I guess he would be right in this case. If I let an innocent person die because I wasn't willing to risk my safety for theirs, how could I forgive myself? I may be a destroyer, but Exorcists exist to save people from the Akuma._

Another wail broke out, closer this time. Weaving around the end of a banister on a bridge, she ran alongside the small river-like waterway. She was pretty certain this would take her out of the western domain if she went too much farther, but at this point she didn't care. Her heart told her something wasn't right.

She slowed down as she reached a corner. Listening for whatever, she felt the eyes on her back again. Finally after several minutes of no sound but her own breathing, she heard it again. The cat-like wail of a small child. Turning the corner around a building, she looked to see…

Nothing.

A hard, smooth hand rose from the water and grasped her wrist. Her eyes widened suddenly, terrified, as she was suddenly dragged down into the water.

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She never felt the water hit her. She was certain she must've gone under. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have ignored every muscle in her body screaming at her to run the other way? How could she have put all her trust into her late brother's mantra when she didn't even know what she was up against?

She could hear the sound you got when you held a seashell up to your ear. The muted rushing sound of water…

When she was little, she loved that sound. She would sit on the rug for hours as a little girl and just listen, imagining seagulls overhead, the blue-green waves of the ocean, the people she saw in pictures riding horses along the shore.

Her mind went back to the immediate problem. Had the Akuma killed her? Was she being left to die in a boat, or on the walkways? Was there hope for her, if someone would come? Or was she already too far gone?

A _clank _sound woke her from her dream-like state. Opening her eyes, she saw her Innocence wrapped around her. Its huge wings encased them. When had she activated it? An Innocence acting on its own couldn't happen… not to someone with such a low sync rate.

Thinking back, she thought of right before she had hit the water. She remembered praying she could somehow… maybe it had reacted to her emotions. _That makes sense. _She told herself.

Just then, the huge skeletal Akuma slammed into the crystalline angelic shape. "Ack!" Celesta backed into the edge of her safe zone.

_We can't fight like this! _Celesta thought angrily. _We have to get above the water without getting killed… we can do that, right? I have no idea what to do! Help me out!_

The hooded angel suddenly retracted, deactivating. The marks still stood prominent on her skin, still burned her shoulders and back. Feeling a weight on her shoulders, she finally got it. _Ah, so I'm supposed to do the fighting with your aid, not the other way around. Is this a different "level" like Lavi was talking about?_

Propelling herself off the bottom of the canal, Celesta tried to get her herself accustomed to the new fighting technique. She closed her eyes and though of the winged lion fountain, trying to materialize that thought into reality.

To her surprise, it worked. She felt the wings (heavy, like a stone of some sort) arch to give her better aerodynamics. The Akuma over threw her, and slammed into the side of the building. With a screech, it followed her upward.

Once above the water, Celesta suddenly realized this was her first fight. She had no idea what to do! _Come on, give me something here! I can't do this without the hooded angel! _

The Akuma splashed upward, narrowly missing her leg. Looking at it, she realized she was way over her head. The Akuma looked nothing like the ball-shaped ones she had occasionally seen (and usually hid from) that would glide silently over Skelling. Sometimes, if they noticed even the smallest amount of movement, they'd fire several rounds at the buildings, causing many to collapse.

This one was different. It had the look that said "I would come into a town just to see how many people I could kill in 60 seconds". Which it might.

It lunged again, ricocheting off a wall. Celesta reacted with only a hairline fraction of a second until it was too late. _Dammit! I'm too slow! _Gritting her teeth, she thought about the winged lion and how remembering it had helped her fly upward out of the water. _Get a hold of yourself. This is not practice; if you don't think you'll be crow meat._

_I watch the birds every day, and wished I could fly. I memorized how they arched, bent, or spread their wings as they flew. Even if I can't fight yet, I can at the very least lead this guy out of the town and alert the others._

Clinging to that belief, she spread out her makeshift wings as best she could and dropped down off her perch. The water came rushing up to meet her and she gave one strong upbeat and caught the wind coming off the moving water. It took every ounce of her concentration not to shout with joy. She was flying! Really, truly flying!

It wasn't until she felt the presence of the Akuma on her tail that she decided to get farther up. With another four or five (she wasn't really counting, just making a mental notice) upbeats she took to the sky, having to watch out for bridges.

Looking up, she saw the moon directly above the cathedral in town's square. Miranda and Allen would be waiting for her to show up! _I can't take the Akuma straight through an area with lots of buildings… _she looked around wildly and realized that was bad for her balance. With one downward stroke, she rebalanced and spotted an alleyway.

With a sharp turn, she made it into the small opening. The Akuma followed her hotly on her trail.

Seeing the winged lion statue, Celesta finally felt fatigue set in. _No! I can't pass out now! I have to get to the others!_ Pushing herself to go faster, she arched her wings and hit a lucky midnight thermal. The town's square was right there, the cathedral not too much farther…

She gave as loud of a cry as she could, hoping someone would hear. Her prayer was answered, and Allen ran out almost immediately. With a huge wash of relief, she thought it would probably be good to get out of Allen's way. She let her wings open up again, and heard the tinkling shatter of glass. Feeling the weight come off her shoulders, she crumpled into a lump on the ground. The burning sensation on her arms ceased just as the Akuma let out a final shriek.

"Celesta! Are you alright?!" Miranda's voice was strained with worry. Celesta tried to pick herself up off the ground. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" she was pretty sure Miranda had said more, but that was all she remembered before the blackness.

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A/N: Grrr… sorry again about the wait. Argh, school gives me a huge writer's block most days. Oh yeah, from here on out I'm updating every Friday. That also goes for Exorcist Idol. Thank you for dealing with my inconsistency.


	6. Control

A/N: I do not own DGM

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The next few days passed by quickly. They went from an inn back to the train station and from one train to the next. When they finally got back to the Black Order, it was anything but orderly, at least for Celesta. First was a trip to the infirmary, where the Matron looked the threesome over until she was certain of a clean bill of health. Then onto Hevlaska's chamber, where it seemed to Celesta she spent more time inside of than she did in her own room. Her Innocence's new development got a fair amount of attention from many… although, at this point it wasn't very uncommon for an Innocence to react and protect their accommodator.

Being back at headquarters wasn't bad, per se, just hectic. The library had become her sanctuary again, where she spent her afternoons watching the birds and drawing. As of late, though, watching the birds made her feel sick. She could fly now, but never did. She wanted to follow them so much, just forget everything for a few hours.

It wasn't until that same night that she realized she had forgotten Poe.

She walked into her room and opened the window (it took a fair amount of forcing) to let in some cold night air, and on her nightstand was that book. The cat was still looking out at her. The tarot cards were on top of it, so she must've seen it but not registered it one day.

_I completely forgot about it…_she sat down numbly. Brushing the deck aside, she picked up the book. She opened it again and thumbed through the pages. Familiar stories and poems would've been comforting… in any book but this one. She fell into a trance as she searched the pages for something, a hint, a clue, a sign to who was talking to her…

Three loud raps hit the door and echoed around her room. She leapt into the air and let out a weak yelp. Shutting the book with a _thump _she got up and walked to the door.

"Hey." Lavi said with a smile. "I haven't seen you since you got back from Italy. I was starting to wonder if you were actually around."

"Oh, uh yeah. Sorry, I've been so busy lately, I completely forgot… well, a lot of things." She scratched the back of her head. "Really truly sorry."

Lavi smiled and cocked his head slightly. "I was mostly joking about that. But, really, I'm glad to see you. Anyway, I came here 'cuz Komui's looking for you. Again."

"You came up here to tell me that?" she groaned. She was going to relish tonight without another visit to Hevlaska or with the creeper Rouvelier. Even being left alone with that stupid book of Poe and worrying herself sick again would be better than _that_.

"No, actually. I came to tell you and kidnap you. The quieter you are, the better this will work." With that, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her off in the direction of the stairway.

"Hey, wait up! Where the hell are you taking me?!" She planted her feet.

"To the roof. I followed Yu up one day. I didn't think he'd be able to find a good place to sit up there; it worked way better at the old headquarters because the roof was practically flat. He used to sit up there, too."

"Uh-huh…" Celesta was still skeptical. Her being the klutz she was, this would end terribly.

"Come on, it's nice out tonight." He led her up the stairs. They traveled in silence, and finally made it into one of the towers. Celesta followed Lavi through the window and onto the shingles. She turned her head upward, and watched a seabird on its way back to the nest. The night sky looked closer than before, like she could reach out with a paintbrush and bring down some of the dark navy to put on a canvas. The stars were so clear, so bright, so unreal.

In truth, it was completely breathtaking.

"You sure know how to kidnap a date." She said when she found her voice.

"Who said this was a date?"

"I did." Celesta looked over at him. "And admit it, you wouldn't have kidnapped me somewhere so pretty if it wasn't a date."

"Hm. Hilarious." He leaned back against the wall next to her. "But you might be right. I'm not so sure anymore. Seems like every time I see you, I'm less sure about myself." He sighed. "If the old man knew, I'd probably be lucky if I was still alive."

She smiled at him. "I'm glad you did this, even if you'll get in trouble."

Lavi looked her over, his smile growing slightly. "You're really cute when you do that."

"No way. I'm never 'cute'. 'Creepy' is the term most commonly used." She turned a lopsided grin his way. His grin grew even wider. She turned her head back toward the moon and levered herself down onto her forearms. "Still, best thing that's happened to me all week." She sighed looking out to the horizon. "It really is beautiful up here. It's really sweet of you to think of this."

"Who, me?" Lavi asked.

"Duh, moron." She turned back to him. "Last time I checked you're the only other person here. The wonderful voices in my head don't count."

"Nutcase."

She laughed at that. "Thank you very much."

"Not a compliment."

"So?"

For a while, there was just silence, marred only by the occasional nighttime noise of an owl or the wind moving through the trees. Looking out at the stars, Celesta whispered "I wonder if there really is anybody way up there."

"Hm?" Lavi glanced in her direction. "What do you mean by that, pray tell?"

"I mean the whole 'God' thing. It's hard to believe in sometimes, all things considered. And there are all sorts of ideas surrounding it, and they're all vastly different. So somebody has to be right and everybody else is just really, really wrong." She sighed. "I sometimes feel like maybe we're all wrong, and we just want to feel like we're not in control of what happens because we know we can't really control it." she sat up and put her head in her hands. "Humans are so stupid."

Lavi's ears rang with things he had said when he first came to the Black Order. He had no faith in human beings; did he really even now? Why did she even bring this up? _The way she talks about it, she must've given it a good amount of thought. _It wasn't until he saw her thin frame shaking in the moonlight that he realized how much she must've wished for someone else to take over. And the way it must have felt when she came to that conclusion…

"I'm sorry about all of this," she said thickly. "I just… I feel like such an idiot. I want to think that there's something better than this, that maybe they're right, but there's no way…" she didn't finish anything after that. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs. Lavi reached out a hand and put it gently on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her somehow.

It felt like hours before Celesta had stopped crying. She had her knees rolled up to her chest and her face pressed against the small divot in between her knees. "I'm sorry." She said again. "I messed this up. I didn't mean to freak out like that. I've just had so much on my mind…" she raised her head and looked back out the window. "I'm glad I can talk to you, at least. You seem to get it, even if you won't admit it."

"It's not a problem." Lavi told her softly. "It's okay to get upset sometimes. I don't mind if you come to me when you're sad, or you need someone to talk to. I'm a good listener."

"That's a dangerous thing for you to say. You might very well be nearing the end of your life with comments like that." A small smile played at the edges of her lips.

He shrugged. "I guess I don't really care. You're the first person to make me feel so…" what? Happy? Confused? Not free, not passionate, not what most people in love would say. He just felt…

"Broken." That didn't feel right either, but it was close.

She looked sort of surprised at first, but then sadly smiled. "I guess I feel that way too."

Finally, when the first rays of dawn hit, they decided that they should probably get back inside.

"Night well spent." Celesta told Lavi before they got to the staircase.

"Glad you think so. That was mostly the point." Lavi said with a small smile.

"See you later." Celesta leaned over and pecked his cheek before he headed down. "I'm gonna stay here for just a little longer."

Sticking her head out the window, she watched as the first birds began to dive on morning air. Finally, she floated back to her room.

---------------

A/N: Whee! I got it done! I'm really glad I did! Now I can begin to move forward. I think I might put Elizabeth in the story… maybe… What do you think? Please review!


	7. Laughter

A/N: This chapter's song is "The Universe Is Laughing" by The Guggenheim Grotto (my new favorite band as of yesterday when then opened for They Might Be Giants). I do not own DGM.

-----------

Early mornings weren't for many people at the Black Order (unless they had been up all night anyway), so there was almost no noise as Celesta made her way up and down the halls. She couldn't sleep once the sun had come up, so going back to her room had been a complete and utter waste of her time.

She had fallen into a rhythm of her footfalls on the white marble floors. She finally decided to just go to the library and stop wasting her time. It would be nearly empty (although there were bound to be a few other people there) so she could roam and not worry about accidently plowing into someone while she had her nose in a book.

She was right about the empty part. The big windows let in plenty of light, so it seemed later than it really was. Celesta delved into the shelves, completely lost in the stories. She had completely lost track of time, until a bell tolled someplace telling everyone in earshot it was ten o'clock. She lurched out of her book and wondered exactly how long she had been roaming the shelves.

Deciding it was probably time to join the living, she picked up a couple of the books she had found and took off in the direction of her room. She put down the books on her nightstand, and at the top was the Poe book. _Funny, I thought I had returned it… maybe not. _She traced the title with her fingers again. _It's like I can't let go of it. …Its energies feel like those of tarot cards; I can't believe I didn't notice that before._

Getting up slowly, she headed off to the dining hall to get something to eat.

---------------

Life carried on semi-normally (in other words, normal for the Black Order, but not quite for other people). By ten o'clock, most people were up and moving around so the dining hall was pretty loud with conversation. Celesta sat with Lenalee and Lavi, because Kanda, Marie and Allen were off on a mission that had started just the day before.

"I hope nothing goes wrong," Lenalee had said.

"In this line of work, something has to go wrong." Lavi said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, _fine._ I hope nothing goes completely, utterly and horribly wrong. That better?" Lenalee answered with playfully narrowed eyes.

"That must've been a fun wake-up call." Celesta said. "I can totally sympathize now considering I'm usually up to go do something annoying."

"Meaning…?" Lavi asked. "I don't think anyone minds a little action."

"Meaning catching a train." Celesta said. "But in my case, usually dealing with annoying people."

"Yes, agreed! Or dealing with people who get in the way. Especially police officers; they're really terrible." Lenalee said. "That really gets on my nerves."

"Okay, okay." Lavi said. "You two win. Big surprise there, women never lose arguments. Woman-thought is the devil's weapon."

There was a long silence in which Lavi could enjoy his little joke. In that time, both girls decided to get back at him. Majorly. October air and being wet did not mix whatsoever. And with a huge amount of water just outside the door… Lavi was in for it. He seemed to sense that and took off like all hell was after him (but hey, according to his last remark, it was).

In short, he lost that battle.

_-*-_

Later in the afternoon, the silence was marred by the two of the newest exorcists sparring (and someone losing really badly). A couple of people from the science department and a finder who had nothing better to do had been walking past and were scared out of their wits.

Celesta was pretty happy she could actually beat someone, or at the very least put up a helluva fight. Chaoji wished he had said "No way" when asked if he would spar with the (psycho) black-haired girl. He was losing pretty terribly, and he had the benefit of being a senior member compared to her.

…unfortunately, she had the benefit of being able to attack from higher up. She was taller than him by a good 2 or 3 inches even if she couldn't fly up out of his reach.

"Can I give up now?" Chaoji whined and he wasn't even ashamed of it. "I'm seriously going to die."

"Nonsense! Nobody died from just _sparring_." Celesta was all juiced up. She hadn't had any time to do anything lately, and hated being cooped up. "C'mon, c'mon! I'll even make it easier!" she deactivated her Innocence, the bright blue sheen around the marks on her arms disappearing, and put her closed fists up next to her face. Her tiger-eye bronze eyes glinted with the thrill of the fight.

Now, Chaoji was almost certain he could beat her in hand-to-hand combat, and _he _evenhad the advantage this time. He came forward, and she waited until she was only about a foot out of his reach, and sidestepped him. Chaoji's brain turned off for a couple of seconds before he saw the wall.

Stopping and turning, her foot collided with the side of his head. She kneed him in the kidneys, and he was down for the count.

"How did you…?!" he stuttered.

"After sparring with Kanda for an hour, you think I wouldn't have learned something?" she grinned at him. "And you should probably go see the Matron now. Your velocity caused me to kick harder than I meant to. Oops."

Lenalee snorted, trying to suppress a grin. "You're vicious, Celesta!"

With a grin, she walked over to where the Chinese exorcist had been watching. "I hate being cooped up. This is kinda fun, considering you don't actually have to worry about losing your life." They fell into step down the hall.

"Against you, I think you do have to watch yourself. Death could be in your future." She smiled at her, and Celesta smiled back. The two had become moderately close friends in the past month or so. They got along famously and often chatted with each other.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Celesta asked. "I mean, I know I have a tendency to-"

"I was joking." Her periwinkle eyes glittered in the afternoon sun let in by the windows. "Besides, it's good to get a chance to spar with someone you can beat so that you don't feel useless." She paused in thought. "If only it worked for Miranda."

"We'll come up with… something…" Celesta said, but it wasn't even reassuring to her.

"Hm." Lenalee replied. "Anyway… do you want to go do something? I know you like the library, and I haven't gotten a chance to do almost anything lately, so picking up a book might not be a bad idea."

"Uh, okay." Celesta didn't have any objections to the library, but was feeling so… what? Honestly, she felt trapped. Running _(cutting across the skies)_ sounded more her speed right now. Just being outside would be nice…

"Hey, Celesta, are you okay? You're really quiet." Lenalee's concerned face got her out of her reverie and she got back to the present.

"I'm very fine. I've been doing that a lot lately, haven't I?" Celesta tried to smile but just didn't feel it.

"If you're not feeling great, you can just go back to your room, or something. You don't have to keep me company if you don't want to." Lenalee told her. "Seriously, I don't mind."

"That might be a good idea." Celesta admitted. "Good thing we all live together, huh? We can go tomorrow or something."

"Sure. See you later then!" Lenalee waved as they parted ways. Celesta turned and smacked into a wall. _Dammit! I have to get over this. Being a klutz is hazardous to my health!_

She backed away from the wall, and (after testing to make sure her nose wasn't broken) walked in the direction of the stairway leading to the roof.

She got up the stairs without any lasting damage, and climbed through the window. In the slowly fading afternoon light, she invoked her Innocence. Sighing softly, she stretched her long wings. They were heavy, and appeared to be made out of quartz. The 'feathers' were long, thin shards of the reflective stone. In the dark of Venice, she had seen them as dark blue or black shards of glass. But now, they shone with the orange-tinted October blue of late afternoon. She folded the crystalline wings with the soft sound of glasses clinking

_(how they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle_

_In the icy air of night_

_While the stars, that oversprinkle_

_All the heavens, seem to twinkle_

_With a crystalline delight…)_

Celesta's eyes snapped open and her wings seized up in surprise. _Again… _she tried her hardest not to cry. _Again… I'm losing it._

She took deep breaths and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she exhaled and took a leap over the edge of the roof. Her wings were folded across her back; she was waiting, waiting for the right moment…

With a quick _snap _her carved stone wings caught the air and she lurched upward. With a powerful down stroke she dropped down and began to soar upward again. She hit a thermal and rode it until she was far enough up that the Order was only a white dot. She giggled and finally let out a shriek of pure joy.

Throwing her arms out, she arched her wings the way she had seen kites**1** do so that they spin upwards on the thermals. The feeling was amazing. The vertigo hit making the ride all the more interesting. She let her wings extend to their full span of fourteen feet and slowly flapped them. Traveling along, she ran into a raven who gave her a golden cock eyed look.

"What you lookin' at?" she asked it, her own dull bronze-brown eyes sparkling. It lurched in midflight and cut a half circle through the air to get away from her. Celesta didn't care all that much. She was high off the freedom of the air, for the first time in her life flying for the sake of it.

_-*-_

A/N: I'm very sorry it took so long. I got very distracted by James Patterson's Maximum Ride series and the fact that CHAPTER 188 OF D. GRAY-MAN IS OUT! YAY EPIC KANDA! **IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY GO READ IT!**


	8. The Bells Second Stanza

A/N: …

I hate writing disclaimers…

_-*-_

The huge white moon above Celesta's head told her that once again she was dreaming. _Totally figures. Completely, totally figures._

"Are you just going to leave me hanging again?" she shouted at the air. "This isn't my idea of a good time." Her subconscious gave no reply. "God dammit, tell me what's going on!"

A lower melody began on the church bells.

**I** **Hear the sledges with the bells—  
Silver bells!  
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!  
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,  
In their icy air of night!  
While the stars, that oversprinkle  
All the heavens, seem to twinkle  
With a crystalline delight;  
Keeping time, time, time,  
In a sort of Runic rhyme,  
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells  
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,  
Bells, bells, bells—  
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. ** **II** **Hear the mellow wedding bells,  
Golden bells!  
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!  
Through the balmy air of night  
How they ring out their delight!  
From the molten golden-notes,  
And all in tune,  
What a liquid ditty floats  
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats  
On the moon!  
Oh, from out the sounding cells,  
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!  
How it swells!  
How it dwells  
On the future! how it tells  
Of the rapture that impels  
To the swinging and the ringing  
Of the bells, bells, bells,  
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,  
Bells, bells, bells—  
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!** **Celesta looked at the moon with a sigh. **_**This is getting old. **_**She thought and closed her eyes in the hopes her own would open.** **_-*-_** …**short chapter. Sry. Review?**


	9. Uncovered

A/N: The mantra that Celesta lives by was actually taken Aventura. I love the wisdom in manga books. I do not own DGM.

_-*-_

Celesta was late to waking up. In fact, so late that she was woken up by afternoon light over her eyes. Squinting, she had realized the time, and jumped in an almost comical way into the air and ran around her room, putting on clothes as she went.

"Where did I put my socks?" she wondered aloud. Looking under her bed (where this kind of thing always ends up) she found her knapsack from her first day at the Order. Picking it up, she felt around inside it. Not for socks, but for… ah hah! Withdrawing her hand, she looked at the silver crucifix. The cross was actually a locket, though she failed to see how anyone could figure out how to make such an intricate cross so that it could open. It was probably easier than it looked, but still. Popping the latch, she unfolded the small slip of paper and read the words "Don't stop believing. Never give up. Always love the person you're destined to become." Her mantra, the one Adrian had told her to never abandon. _Once again, I'm being an_ _idiot. Just because I follow every word of advice and clutch to every memory won't bring him back._

She fastened the clasp on the crucifix. The cross (and mantra) hung between her collarbones, just above her sternum. Fingering it, she remembered her original quest and went back to searching for her socks.

Once found, she walked over to the door. A soft pressure between her eyes (internally) warned her of another 'person' in the room. Her hand on the doorknob, she leaned her head back. "No matter what, I won't stop believing." A presence that she knew all too well, the presence of a spirit, that caused her head to hurt**1**, appeared directly behind her. "I won't give up. I'll always love the person I'm destined to become." The presence suddenly dwindled, but wasn't gone as she opened the door. "See you 'round." She said.

_-*-_

"Hiya, 'Lesta. Thought you were gonna sleep all day." Lavi said. He had his signature grin on as he stopped Celesta in the middle of the hallway. "How are ya?"

She looked him over. "Do you ever stop smiling?"

He faltered at that. No one had ever asked him that, though it was something that bothered him each day. "I really don't know." He replied. "Why?"

She shrugged. "You're just… trying too hard. Like you're scared." She sighed softly. "I wish you'd let somebody know when you're upset. I get the whole bookman thing, but that doesn't mean you have to refuse somebody to talk to. I wish you'd treat me equally."

Thinking back to when they had hid out on the roof, when he said if she needed someone to talk to, he'd be there… he had never thought about the other way around. _Why does she always make me feel this way?_

"Celesta! Lavi!" Reever called down the hall. "Komui wants you in his office. You have a mission!"

_-*-_

The train went slowly along. Celesta was sitting across from Lavi, flipping for clear space in her mutilated sketch book. He was trying to look at her drawings, but she'd catch him looking and block his limited vision. He'd finally given up and leaned back against the compartment wall. It wasn't very long before the train's movement rocked him to sleep.

Celesta tried not to laugh at the soft snoring from the bench across from her. Looking at him, she drew out a rudimentary skeletal form and slowly added more details. Lavi was pretty cute asleep. He looked… real. He wasn't hiding at all, and looked so much more relaxed. She paused in her drawing to just watch the rise and fall of his chest.

She hummed the first few bars of a lullaby her mother used to sing. It was slow and somewhat eerie, but pretty nonetheless. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the words. Her memories, of her mother singing softly to her as a little girl.

_On painted wings, a nighthawk sings/a song about the night sky/and as it goes, sadly, its wings/fall apart so it cannot fly_

Her eyes snapped open. Those weren't really the words, were they? There was no way. _I'm really going crazy, aren't I? _she wondered. Sighing softly, she leaned back and finished her drawing.

_-*-_

By the time they two had gotten to the Oxford stop it was already dark. An innkeeper told them they could stay at his place—he'd even give them horses to get around faster. After all, Oxford was the home of the hunt.

They didn't share a room, obviously. Celesta liked her room; it was spacious and had an excellent view of the countryside. Sitting on the bed, she watched the horses in the pasture. A pretty horse had been galloping around, suddenly turning and loping away or pivoting in a circle to go the other way. She had ridden a few times and had a knack for it, but hadn't gone riding in years. Still, the grace, strength, beauty… the majesty of horses made her heart soar.

There was a thump outside her door followed by soft voices. Then, a woman shrieked.

"Get away from me! You're a freak! Stay away!"

Celesta got up and moved over to the door. Opening it a crack, she looked outside. A young woman with her curly brown hair tied back and in an evening gown had her back to the wall. A handsome man was coming down the hall. He had pale-almost grey- skin and black hair that was tied back. A butterfly-like creature was perched in his shoulder, and his gold eyes sparked. Celesta knew that this guy meant business.

"Hey, isn't it a little late to start a ruckus?" Celesta asked stepping out in front of the girl. The man paused and took her in. She tried to look fierce, kind of hard considering she was truthfully terrified of this guy. He was obviously a Noah, and probably had a bunch of fighting experience under his belt, so she was pretty well screwed with no plan.

His eyes widened slightly in a cocky manner. "Have we met someplace before?"

"I kind of doubt it. Despite my looks, I tend to not walk with your type." She replied. "Anyway, what's it to you?"

"Nothing really." He waved his hand in her direction. "Now shoo. I have business to attend to." He looked over toward her. "Unless you think you can do anything, exorcist."

"I bet I could." She retorted, narrowing her eyes. _Half of all conflicts are about intimidation. _Celesta reminded herself. _…yeah, I'm screwed._

He laughed in reply. "I doubt that. Maybe we'll meet again. I'd hate to fight a pretty girl in public." He turned and walked off calmly. Every muscle in her body told Celesta to attack him, but she didn't. And, to make matters worse, she was kind of glad he had left.

Turning to the woman behind her she asked, "Are you okay?" Her reply was a crumpled pile of person on her shoes. _Perfect._

_-*-_

The next morning, Celesta and Lavi got their horses and took off. Lavi was having some issues with his reining, and Celesta had to turn around and help him out.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart and all." She said, eyeing him. "This is a little sad."

They set off down the trail and headed to where they were to be stationed, in a tiny village just outside of Oxford. The ride was a fair journey, and so they decided to go somewhat fast the majority of the time, loping**3** on and off. Once there, the horses cooled off and Celesta found out about a horse race.

"No way." Lavi had told her. "No way. These guys have been training, they have badass horses, you're an exorcist who has only just shown up. You're not going to do well."

"Fine. But I'm going to trail them, considering that's where all the weird shit's been happening. If there's an Akuma trying to get the Innocence, I doubt it'll mind a few snacks."

"Don't speak so callously. You sound completely psycho." He told her, sounding actually serious.

She sighed. "I honestly don't know if my sanity is as stable as before. But I can still figure out this kind of stuff. Don't try to tell me that's not the way it is."

Having to wait for the race (the only time the trail was open) was brutal. There was so much that could go wrong in the course of a few hours… Celesta tried to calm her nerves by practicing riding. Lavi found himself watching her, the moves she practiced going around and around the arena.

"What are you doing?" asked a young groom who had paused in his usual routine to watch the black-clad girl on the gunmetal horse. He had been giving her goo-goo eyes all the while. Lavi wondered if she'd noticed. "I've never seen anyone ride horses like that around here."

"That's because the people at this stable don't own hunting horses." Celesta answered in a very passive way as she loped around the wall. She clucked her tongue and the horse lurched up to speed, puffing its chest out and arching its neck in a splendid way. She was sitting as the horse moved along, occasionally kicking her inside leg**4 **to the horse's ribcage to keep him close to the fence.

"Okay, then…" the stable boy replied nervously. "How'd you learn all this? I mean, _girls_ never ride horses."

Celesta's eye twitched and she brought the horse to a sudden stop. Turning her head she looked the blonde groom in the eyes from across the circular arena. "What. Did. You. Say?" Lavi almost thought about stopping her before she did something rash. But then again…

"You know, it's just not proper. Girls should be doing other stuff, especially around your age with such a pretty face." _That idiot's dead meat. _Lavi thought as he watched Celesta slowly turn the horse. With a sudden fluid movement, the horse leapt forward across the arena toward the boy. She turned the horse and stopped him, so that a huge spray of dirt covered the stable hand, who screeched when the horse came barreling toward him.

"I'm so sorry I didn't know that." Celesta said sweetly. "I guess that means I'm very 'wrong'. If horseback riding isn't for girls, then fighting mustn't be either." She gasped in mock distress. "Oh dear! I have to recreate my life!" Celesta then snorted and narrowed her eyes arrogantly. "Ha! That's likely." To punctuate her remark the horse tossed his head and snorted too.

"Jesus! What kind of a girl are you?!" Blondie-the-dumb-stable-hand yelped.

"One of kind." Celesta said, and turned her horse to go out of the arena. "Come on, Lavi. We should probably get going."

Mounting the bay**5** horse, Lavi followed her down the path. "Nice." He said simply.

"I hate guys like that. I shoulda clocked him." She said with a mournful sigh. Lavi laughed.

_-*-_

Alongside the racers, Celesta and Lavi found nothing. "No Akuma, no Innocence, no nothing!" Celesta had cried as they made their way back to the barn to put away their horses. "I was all tensed up and everything! Ugh!"

"I hate to say it, but it was kind of a letdown." Lavi admitted. "At least nobody got hurt."

"Yeah, that's true." She allowed and led her horse to the water trough. It was all sweated up, and Celesta felt a little bad. Her nerves had fed his so he sweat more profusely than if he had just ran and not have been worried. Lavi's horse looked about the same. "I feel terrible about the horses. The night stable hand will have a hard time with them." She looked nervously toward the tall brown haired groom. He smiled as he walked closer.

"How're you two this evening?" he asked. He put a hand on the gunmetal horse's shoulder. "Jeez, what did you do to him?"

"I-I-I- I'm sorry!" Celesta said. "We ran hard; I can stay and help, I like horses-"

"It's fine."

"Are you sure, sir? I mean, you're out here all night anyway, it might as well be easier, I'd feel terrible if I didn't."

"I truly don't care. And if a pretty girl would call me Thomas, I'd stay awake with the horses of Hell to hear her."

Celesta blushed, and Lavi tried not to laugh or grab the guy by the collar of his shirt. For some reason, this guy seriously pissed him off. "Come on, Celesta. If he doesn't care, it is his job. He gets paid."

"That's true, Miss Celesta." Thomas smiled warmly. "Besides, I like horses too. I like taking care of them."

"Fine. But I'm staying out here, because I happen to have a job too." She said defiantly. "If you want, Lavi, you can go to bed. I'll stay out for a while in case any Akuma show up. We're close enough to where the Innocence might be that it would stupid to not have someone out."

"I'll help you patrol. I don't need that much sleep." Lavi told Celesta. "You may have improved in your fighting but you're not great yet. You might need help if something big shows up."

Once that had been cleared, Celesta borrowed a new horse and set off along the tree ridge at a fast trot**5**. Lavi sat down in the hayloft above the main barn and watched her disappear into the darkness. Thomas sighed and said "You're lucky to get to work with her. I'd give anything to be a service to someone so pretty and earnest." He looked Lavi in the eyes. "I guess I'm jealous of your close relationship."

"We're not in a relationship. My situation makes that impossible." Lavi replied passively.

"Hm. I'd have thought that you two were together, the way you two act. Watching each other's backs and all."

_If only you knew, moron. _Lavi thought. Even though it was dark, this guy had to be completely blind to not know they were exorcists. They wore it on their sleeves (a little to the left).

_-*-_

A/N: Grah! So many things I had to mark and put notes on!

**1**for people like me who are sensitive to this kind of energy, that's kinda what it feels like, but more like a pressure… you kind of have to feel it to understand. Sorry.

**2**… :)

**3**a three beat gate, very smooth, but not as fast as the gallop.

**4**the leg not on the wall, closest to the center of the arena. The one on the wall is your outside leg.

**5**a brown horse with black mane, tail, and legs

Also, I'm giving up on a certain day for updates. Just… whenever…


	10. OpenMinded

A/N: This chapter's theme song is "The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie.

_-*-_

Celesta came hurtling over a fallen tree, her hands grasping the horse's mane as he spooked as fast as his legs would carry him. Another shower of bullets rained over the forest and the horse shrieked with fear. Holding on tight, she hoped they'd make it back to the stable in time or she'd get really, really fricken' lucky and Lavi would notice.

…although, with her luck, she had probably lost it all in Venice. _That _had been a lucky break. Silently cursing, she pushed the horse faster as she attempted to lead the Akuma into… where, exactly? It was another one of the skeletal ones, like in Venice. _I can't get something, I don't know, weaker that I can actually fight?! _An uprooted tree had fallen down in the path. The horse skidded to a stop and Celesta fell out over the horse's neck. The frightened stallion whinnied and took off in another direction.

"Wait!" she yelled, getting to her feet and stumbling forward. She hadn't gotten very far ahead of the Akuma, so it was only a matter of time before it came through the trees. Activating her Innocence, she ran for a glade where she could take off. Her crystal-wings were glittering deep blue, and on any other night she would have paused as her artistic heart took in the sight. As it was she was straining her ears to find any sound that would indicate the Akuma's presence.

_It's so damned quiet… _church bells rang in the distance. _God, not again! Not now…_

Her head spun suddenly as a rain of bullets hit all around her. A huge rock hit her arm, just below her shoulder, and pain seared up her entire body. Clenching her teeth and fighting back a scream, she lurched into the air. Dodging a… missal?!... in the form of a barrel roll, she tried to find the bluffs that would indicate where (Lavi) the stable was.

"Stupid exorcist!" came the shout from behind her. "Hold still!"

"In your (insert swear word of choice here) dreams!" she yelled back, bringing her arms in close and arching her wings for aerodynamics. _! _Celesta thought, as once again pain flared up her arm. _Gotta get back, or get something… _envisioning her Innocence's original form, she hoped fervently for a weapon that would help her. Nothing was coming. _Fine. Wishful thinking won't work. Okay. Use your knowledge._

_**Some birds use their wings to fend off enemies, you know. Yours are Innocence, they'd easily kill this guy. **_

_Who is that inside my head?! _Celesta almost dropped from the sky. _Whatever, I'll worry later. Now… good idea._

She flattened her flight feathers into smooth glass daggers. Turning mid-flight, she arched her wings into balanced and blade-like weapons. Prepared for impact, she slashed one flight primary into the Akuma's back. It screeched; she noticed several tiny 'downy' feathers had lodged in the gash. Celesta's initial shock turned to relief as the Akuma broke in its fast descent.

_**Well done. I'd applaud, but I'm just a voice. Hey, I have some advice: next time you try to get us killed, don't. I like my little post, thankyouverymuch.**_

Celesta turned and headed toward the stable, now visible. _Hey, how 'bout you get lost? I hate knowing I'm crazy even without proof._

…

Sighing, she looped and made an ungraceful landing just inside the north most wall of the pasture. Startling several horses, she walked toward the stable's light, where she could see Lavi's and Thomas's forms running toward her. About ready to collapse, she was grateful for the two arms supporting her.

"What happened?" Lavi asked her, somewhat frantically. "Your horse came galloping out of nowhere, and then you dropped out of the sky…"

"An Akuma." She replied. Simple sentences with only two or three words were all she could muster. She was as light-headed as the first time she had really synchronized (in Venice, and she hadn't even fought). "It's gone now; I killed it. It was one of those skeleton ones."

"You're okay, right?" Thomas asked. "You didn't get hurt anywhere?"

"My arm." Celesta admitted. "A big rock hit it."

"Oh, God," Lavi helped her down to sit on a hay bale. "I'll go get a doctor." He sprinted off, leaving just Celesta and Thomas.

"I'm so sorry I can't do anything," Thomas said, his voice taut. "I feel so useless."

Celesta put a hand on his head. "You're not useless. I'm just being high-maintenance right now."

"Don't joke." Thomas' face was inches from hers. "I don't know what you two were going on about, but it sounded bad. Why does a woman have to fight?"

"I'm not fighting because I have to." She snapped. "Nobody made me; I got some background on this stuff and _chose_ to become an exorcist so I could protect my friends. I'm fighting because there's someone I need to protect."

Thomas was obviously taken aback. He smiled suddenly. "You kinda struck me as that kind of girl." He leaned forward a little. "Can I be on your list of people to protect?"

She paused, not entirely certain she liked where this was going. "You do realize it's my arm not working, right? My legs move just fine. You're not careful, and the thing between your legs will never work properly again."

He backed off immediately. "Sorry."

She smiled to herself. "You know I'm not totally opposed to you, I've just had a long day." Looking over at him, she looked into his deep brown eyes. She liked the color, it was like chocolate. Maybe, if her situation was different, she could've really liked a relationship with him.

**Whoa! Stop that! I'm in here, too, ya know!**

_Shut up! I wasn't thinking like that!_

"Un, Celesta? Are you okay?" Thomas brought her back to the world outside her head.

She smiled pleasantly. "Fine."

_-*-_

Lavi came in late morning. He was true to his word; he told her he'd come in whenever she was awake. He had harassed the nurse at the inn every half-hour. She didn't seem to get annoyed. At least, his breakfast hadn't been poisoned, so that was a good sign.

"Morning." Celesta smiled at him, her pale face bright. "I'm sorry I slept so long. Man, I just keep hindering this mission!" her face scrunched slightly.

"C'mon, 'Lesta. You destroyed the Akuma; now we don't have to worry so much. We just have to find the Innocence. And if the Finders have found it, we just go home."

She smiled, her tawny eyes turning up at the edges. "No place like home."

"No matter how dysfunctional, insane, annoying…"

"Shut up. Don't knock my home."

Lavi chuckled. She was funny, when she wanted to be. "Don't wear yourself out."

"Are you kidding? I'm so tired of sitting around. I always mess myself up." Lavi wondered if she was troubled, but Celesta just smiled. "But I am unbelievably tired. Still."

"Go to sleep, then." She rolled her eyes, but laid back down. "You're really something."

"I know, right?" she muttered. She was asleep in minutes. Lavi chuckled softly. He put his elbow on the bedside table and rested his chin on his palm. Looking down, he saw her sketchbook. He picked it up, almost silent, and opened up the first page. On the inside cover, she had written

_Property of Celesta M. Treani._

_Don't stop believing_

_Never give up_

_Always love the person you're destined to become._

He hmphed in reply. Easy for her to say. Flipping to the next page, he saw the portrait signed _Elizabeth Darrow_. Elizabeth had long blonde hair, falling almost to her waist, tied with a ribbon. She had on a long blue dress that matched her eyes. The outline had been colored in fine watercolor paint. Around her ankles, a long furred cat rubbed its face on her hand. In the background (in light washed out paint) a white cat with sparkly blue eyes looked out just past his face.

Flipping through some more pages, he saw more of Elizabeth and the ginger-haired girl known as Melody Williams. As he got closer to the middle of the big sketchbook, he saw people he knew: the other exorcists.

The animals in faded paint varied greatly. From Lenalee's otter to Allen's lion, then to Miranda's mouse. A greyhound ran alongside Krorykins's picture, while Kanda's panther snarled. Turning through more pages, he found more of the spirit creatures, joined by odd symbols. Celtic runes, by the looks of them. Big, scratched in by what looked like charcoal, like she hadn't noticed. He found a picture of himself, sleeping on the train. He almost laughed; she was really good. It wasn't colored in, but she had begun to lightly pencil in a barn owl. _Makes enough sense,_ Lavi thought. _I wish I could fly. I'd be willing to give up everything and become a true bookman if I had that memory of flying._

Softly closing the book, he turned and walked out the door.

_-*-_

A/N: hm. Interesting. I'm sorry it took so long. I hit a writer's block and started to write another fic, but it helped and I could finish chapter ten. Yay.

Thanks to those of you who have reviewed! You guys all deserve the chance to fly.


	11. We Build, Then We Break

A/N: this chapter's theme song is "We Build, Then We Break" by The Fray.

_-*-_

Celesta and Lavi returned, only for Celesta to be pounced on by the Matron. Again.

"Honestly, you exorcists never think about yourselves!" the Matron scolded as Celesta endured an earful while getting her shoulder blades tested. "You're lucky you haven't lost use of this arm."

"Is it really that bad?" Celesta asked shakily. "I didn't realize…"

"It's not terrible, but not what I was expecting when I heard 'a big rock hit it'," she sighed. "The bones aren't broken, but the bones in your shoulder blade are bruised. The muscles are bruised something terrible, so you'll have to be careful for the next month or so."

No flying? Sigh. This was going to be impossible.

_-*-_

Celesta knew she was gonna be dead meat, but she couldn't help it. The Matron had told her not to strain her arm and shoulder so they would heal right, but she had to go out. It had been an entire week of nothing! Half-running to the stairway to the roof, she felt a wave of joy flowing through her mind. _There's something out there, better than this…_

Taking the stairs two at a time, she blew past Kanda (who had also been going up) and skidded around the corner. Kanda picked up his own pace to follow her; there was a possibility this would end badly.

She activated her Innocence as he climbed through the window. She felt giddy as she walked toward the edge of the roof. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, she could barely get enough air. Opening her wings wide, she dropped. Kanda almost dropped with her, gaping. She hit the air and flew out over the forest.

_I feel the pull, the lull of the air… _she closed her eyes for a moment, and drifted along. When she opened them again, it was to… what the hell?

Dropping a couple hundred feet, she tried to get a better look at the… people? There was something off about them. Like, their aura. It reminded her of Kanda's but more… feral. There was no love, there was no kindness. Or if there was, it was so slight she couldn't sense it.

Circling, she went into vulture mode. Just observing.

_**Good idea. Like you've said, you can never be too careful.**_

_Thanks, annoying anonymous voice who has taken residence in my head,_ she thought sourly.

…_**I'm just saying.**_

_Well, don't. Thanks._

She dropped another twenty feet. The group of five or six was moving toward the headquarters. But they weren't obviously threatening. They looked like the way any exorcist would coming back home.

_Weird… _Celesta thought. _They're dressed like those Crow figures that have been wandering around lately._

_**Hmm… backup, maybe?**_

_You know, they don't really fight, last time I checked._

_**I guess. Huh. But they don't seem aggressive, so I think you can let your guard down.**_

_True. _She rose back up. But not too far, in case. Shooting forward on a gust of thermal wind, she arched her wings- ouch- and spun around. Talk about a ride! Opening her wings out again, she flipped and rose up over the tree line. She looped, feeling free. She arched her wing back in and rode the thermal. When it suddenly cut out, though, she dropped like a stone. Down, down, down… slam. Pain exploded behind her closed eyes. She had landed on her hurt shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she hoisted herself up. _Owowowowowowowow…_

Pushing herself back up, she looked at her arm. _Crap._ It wasn't bleeding heavily, but it was bleeding, and already a bruise was forming. _**You should've kept your wings open. Thermals don't keep up very long.**_

_Zip it, voice-in-my-head._

_**Zipping.**_

She looked up when heavy footfalls came her way. Scrabbling to her feet, she sensed the same presence as before… and the group of five came into her line of sight. They moved as one, like a human-sized colony of army ants. Yeah, she was pretty well screwed over if these guys were hostile. And if they weren't, there would be Death by the Matron. _Between a rock and a hard place _was the phrase that came to mind.

_Okay. We're running. We are not gonna screw around. We are flying our pretty little tail feathers HOME._

She leaped into the air and with a down stroke-ouch- and an upstroke-ouch- she fell into a familiar rhythm as she became airborne. Barely clearing the tree tops, she soared back to the roof.

And landed on our good friend, Yu Kanda.

_-*-_

Celesta currently had a guard. And was she happy about it? No f-ing way. Especially because it was –surprise, surprise- Howard Link. Allen was in the Matron's care after his last mission (they scored a new exorcist). She was in the library, looking from the window to stalker-buddy. Right now, she was fantasizing about driving a needle through Link's eye. It gave her a small satisfaction.

She shuffled through her Tarot cards, picking several at random. Justice, Seven of Cups, and The Moon came up. She forgot to ask a question. Hell, she didn't even put them into a formation. She shuffled them back in with a sigh. _Hey, little Voice, you there?_

Yeah. She was definitely losing it if she actually _wanted _to talk to proof she was a raving lunatic.

_**Mm?**_

_Why'd you take up residence in my head?_

…

_Yeah, sure, be quiet when I actually wanna know something. When I'd rather be left alone, you're all over me._

_**I am surprisingly offended.**_

_Good._

…

Trying not to sigh, she shuffled through her cards again. She pulled her weird Tarot cards out. There were seven; the Air element had been pulled because it was her fixed element, so she didn't need it. These seven had six things attributed to them. The elements Fire, Earth, Water were there along with the lesser known ones Dryness, Moisture, Heat, and Cold were mixed in. She shuffled them and put on in the center. Then, she put the next four around it like a compass, going west, east, south, north.

Flipping the middle one, she found it to be **Water**. The important phrase (the one her eyes were drawn to) was **a young girl**. That was her 'self' card. _Kind of redundant, _Celesta thought. The past (western) card was **Dryness**. The important phrase was **desired results**. _Creepy. I usually have to wrack my head to figure out the past card, but this one makes sense. I have a standard I want to work towards, and I had desired results for myself. Nice one, freaky spirits of the Tarot_. The future card (eastern) was **Heat**, and the important word was **evolution**. The southern card (one factor or person involved) was **Earth**. The word? **Materialism. **Somebody wanted something about her evolution. The northern card was **Cold**. The important word was **safety**.

_**Make of it what you will**_**, **the voice told her.

With a sigh, she folded the cards together. _Yeah. Gotcha._

Celesta looked up at Link. "So, am I not allowed out of here, or what?"

"Sorry, miss. Strict orders, to make sure you don't injure yourself further." The blonde lapdog said.

She resisted the urge to scream out, "Why? What the hell do you want from me?!"

_I think I've hit my breaking point._

_-*-_

A/N: thanks for putting up with my whatevers. Review?


	12. Third Circle

A/N: Hmm… Well, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who're reading this! Hope you ate too much and slept until noon. This chapter's theme song is "Jigga What/ Faint" by Jay-Z and Linkin Park.

_-*-_

Celesta was thankful that even though she had Parasite-type Innocence, she didn't have Allen's crazy appetite. Instead, what she had was an addiction to the worst drug: oxygen at high altitudes. And anything sweet. The more sugar, the better. But that too had its downfalls.

For one, the constant longing to be in the air. But every time she even thought about flapping her crystalline wings, her shoulders ached. But other than that, it was better than an outrageous appetite.

This bright morning, she was eating an assortment of fruit. Fruit was her friend. Especially peaches, which had so much sugar, it was hard to believe they were considered healthy. But then again, it was natural sugar. She had iced tea (a great herbal mix of hibiscus and plum blossoms), with no added sugar or anything. Surprising.

Celesta was reading a book (Black Beauty) while munching a peach, when Lavi and Allen came up to her table. She absentmindedly registered their presence and flipped to the next page. "G'morning."

"Morning, Celesta." Allen said before diving into a half-mile pile of plates.

Lavi looked somewhat repulsed. "God, am I glad you don't do that, Celesta. Would totally ruin your 'cute' factor."

"Yeah, 'coz Allen is all cuteness and fluff until dinner rolls around." She said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Allen looked up at her. She rolled her eyes and hid a smile as she turned another page in her book.

…

_Look, I know when you want to say something. Spit it out._

…

Inwardly sighing, Celesta turned another page in her book. _I don't hang on every word, so not talking is a nice change._

_**Hm.**_

_-*-_

For some odd reason, Celesta had the feeling she was being watched. She was all paranoid, looking over her back every once in a while, only to see nothing. She made the mistake of doing so while walking along with Allen. "Are you okay?"

"Uhm, yeah. Fine."

"Okay."

Allen had gotten out of the infirmary a couple of hours ago, so Link was re-assigned to be his guard.

But Celesta still needed to be watched.

Trying not to sulk, she looked out the window. It was such a nice day; the almost-winter air was calling to her… figuratively. She was once again, jealous of those stupid seabirds who got to fly around while she was stuck on the ground.

_**Considering how you tried to get is killed last time…**_

_Zip. It. Now. You came in without my permission. I don't have to take your opinions into account._

…

_**For now.**_

Celesta shut down her mind and tried not to wonder about what the voice had said. It sounded vaguely familiar, like from a long forgotten dream.

_**You'll get it, eventually. Maybe we'll meet someday. Actually, I don't doubt it.**_

_Meet a voice? Like where, my subconscious?_

_**If you're gonna get snippy, maybe I don't want to meet you.**_

_Whatever. I don't give a shit._

"Hey, Allen." A low voice sounded, bringing Celesta out of her daze. It was an unfamiliar voice, and Celesta realized she wasn't as well acquainted with the other exorcists as she thought.

"Oh, hello Marie." The white haired teen replied, polite as always. "What is it?"

"If you can get the permission, I wouldn't mind sparring. If I don't, I might lose my hand."

"Um, sure. I don't think Link will mind. Right?" he turned to the Pekingese-watchdog. Link just gave a curt nod. Marie turned toward Celesta.

"Have we met?" he asked. His eyes, though pale, were kind. In the huge, dysfunctional family of the Black Order, he would be one of the uncles. The cool one, that you could talk to. Komui was everybody's weird uncle.

"Um, not yet?" the tall black-haired girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Celesta Treani."

"Noise Marie." He replied. His handshake was firm. _You can tell a lot about a person by their handshake. _

"Hi." Celesta was short on her words today. Maybe she hadn't gotten enough sleep. She was kind of lost in her own head most of the time, so it was no surprise that she spaced out as Allen, Marie and the blonde lapdog walked off. But apparently it rubbed the lapdog's fur the wrong way.

"Are you coming?"

"Bite me." She replied with unnatural hostility in her voice. _What the hell was that?!_

_**So you got annoyed. It's natural for a woman of your age to sometimes…**_

_None of that 'crazy-woman PMS' shit, got it? Not in my head._

_**Jeez, over-reaction much?**_

_Look, I'm not one to lash out. I know myself. That wasn't me. You got anything to say for yourself?_

_**Not really. Besides, you'll get it soon enough. But for now, I don't have to tell you anything you don't need to know.**_

_This is not a need-to-know basis. This is a talk-or-you're-getting-thrown-out basis!_

_**You're not in a position to make demands. I'm simply supposed to observe and record, and wait until I'm given orders…. Oops.**_

_Orders? From who?_

…

_Fine, be that way._

"Celesta."

_**The blonde lapdog calls.**_

"Yeah?"

"…It would be wise to learn to control your temper. If those flares become frequent, you may be marked as a traitor. Your looks are enough for many. Don't let your actions feed that fire."

Was that concern, perhaps? Or just more male stupidity about women not being able to defend themselves? "Got it."

Suddenly, the aura she had felt yesterday hit her again. Celesta looked up, her neck making a slight snap sound as it whipped in a sudden pivot. Allen was against a wall, seemingly thrown from the sudden sound, and his left eyes had activated.

Celesta felt her heart drop into her stomach, the juices frying her nervous system and cutting all cranial function. This was bad. Way bad. Worse than just everyday spirits and auras. This was bad. Inhuman. Not despair, like the Akuma, worse. A mix of… what? Her head hurt as she tried to figure it out, tried to put the many together to form one conclusion, and found nothing that made sense. _they're not human, not completely. And not spirits, but closer to that than human,_

_**Yeah a really bad spirit. Like a demon. Oh wait.**_

_Shut up._

_**Nu-uh, this is my house, too.**_

_My head._

…_**Touché.**_

"What are you doing, Koushi?" a creepy-looking girl-like figure asked.

"Tch… it's a side-effect." The alleged Koushi said.

Celesta's head suffered a blow from an invisible spike as the 'man's' hand transformed; no that wasn't the word, more like deformed into an odd star-thing. It was really freaky, and Celesta didn't want to think about it. Dying felt like a good idea right now.

She didn't realize she had been clutching her head until she let go. Her head still hurt, like crazy, but she could see what was going on.

The small group of three had finished some sort of discussion, and Koushi's hand returned to normal. When it did, the spike dislodged itself from her head and Celesta felt like she might not throw up. Maybe.

A small crowd had gathered around Allen and Marie as Celesta stood up. She thought about walking away, but at the same time, it just seemed so… rude, maybe. And she wanted to know who these people were.

The one in the middle (the leader of this smaller group, she assumed) spoke.

"Our apologies, Allen Walker. As beings who have been converted into half-Akuma through biological generation, we do not react well to Innocence. I beg your forgiveness. I am Tokusa," he gestured to the girl next to him. "Kiredori, Koushi. And Tevak and Madarao, but they are not with us now.

"We will be here serving as 'third Exorcists'."

_**They seem interesting enough, but not bad.**_

Celesta could barely breathe. She could feel a cold sweat drenching her neck, causing her lengthening black hair to stick. The headache had returned, worse than before. "I need air," she told Link, who took one look at her, and, reassured that she wasn't going to fly again by her face, gave a curt nod. She walked past the group, and gave them a wide berth. Unfortunately, she still attracted their attention. Three pairs of eyes turned to follow her steps. "You look familiar," Tokusa said. _I can't catch a break!_

"Uhm," was all Celesta managed. Sensing there was going to be some sort of over-excitement, Lavi stood. Celesta looked awful, her already death-pale skin turning a shade or two lighter, if possible.

"I don't think this is the time, if you'll excuse us." Lavi said politely. Turning her gently, the two walked off (aware of several stares following them).

They had made it halfway down the hallway when Celesta collapsed onto a bench. "You look sick." Lavi commented, kneeling next her. "What happened back there?"

"Search me," she said weakly. "I'm sensitive to auras, and theirs gave me a kick-arse headache."

"Jeez. Sorry about that." Too curious for his own good, he blurted the next question. "When did you meet them?"

"Um, it wasn't exactly a meeting. I didn't realize they saw me. I was flying along and saw them, so I came in for a closer look, and ended up landing in a heap. It kinda sucked."

"Yeah, I can see how it would." Lavi paused for a second. "Anything else?"

Pausing, Celesta wondered if she should tell him about the voice. **Don't you dare**, the voice boomed.

"You can trust me."

**You can't trust anyone.**

Something suddenly broke in her resolve as she realized how true that was. No one had ever proved to her she could trust them. Standing up, she walked away.

_-*-_

A/N: a little static, huh? I finally get to take this where I wanted to since about chapter seven. I'm so glad, because now I can pick this up! Yay!


	13. Fear The Fall

A/N: This chapter's theme song is "Vertigo" by the Guggenheim Grotto. It really only fits the last little bit, though, slight warning.

_-*-_

_Once upon a time, there was a princess. This princess…_

Celesta sighed and scrawled out what she had written.

_Once upon a time, there was a young witch. She excelled at divination and was an excellent flier, but could never get a spell to work right. Finally she went to a warlock for help, and-_

_**Who's the warlock?**_

_Voice._

_**Yes?**_

_Shut up. Kindly shut up._

_**Oh, but that's so BOR-ING.**_

_No one said my head's a party._

_**Meh.**_

_-who told her that if she wanted to get any good at spells she should look to her dreams, look in her heart. So she did._

_**Okay, what is your point of writing this? It makes about… never mind, it makes no sense. I don't understand what you're talking about.**_

_You're not supposed to. This is for recreational purposes. Now shut up and stop commenting._

_**You need an editor or something. I have volunteered. And I say "this sucks".**_

_Everyone's a critic._

_**You got that right, baby.**_

_Don't call me that._

_**Ugh. But this is SOOO boring. Let's do something else.**_

_Okay. I have a good game. It's called "see who can be quiet the longest"._

_**I hate that game.**_

_You don't hate it when I want to know something._

_**Need-to-know basis.**_

_Keep telling yourself that._

_Her dreams were bizarre, but helped her along. She finally figured out what to do—_

Celesta shut her notebook with a dull _thud_. She turned to Allen who was doing paperwork (as usual, as of late). "I'm ditching this." She told him. "Want to come?"

"Um, I like living. And if I can get any leash from Link, I'll take it." Celesta randomly thought about the irony: the blonde lapdog had _them _on a leash. Allen turned back to the mound of papers, which were perched precariously and threatening to fall, crushing the small emo child. "I think the best way to get that free rein would be to _not_ abandon any duties he places on the table." Nonetheless, the white haired teen sighed.

"Fine, suit yourself," scoffed the lanky girl. She stood up, but then caught sight of Link coming in for the kill. She sat back down and opened her notebook again.

_**I can't believe you're scared of that guy. Look, we could just ditch this place. You know, I highly doubt anyone would stop you. You might get shot at, and probably wouldn't be allowed back, but you know.**_

_Thanks, but I like my place fine. Besides, how do I know you're not just going to take me to whoever's orders you're filling out?_

_**I won't force you into anything.**_

"Celesta," Allen had turned over to her. "Question: what is a"

"Don't ask me about paperwork, how'm I supposed to know?" she cut him off.

"True." Allen agreed. "Lucky," he muttered and turned back to the very, _very_ slowly diminishing pile.

Celesta began to add random details to her wolves drawing from oh-so-long-ago. She stuck her head around the corner of the door and looked for the blonde lapdog. He was nowhere in sight. _Score. _"Well, I'm leaving. Enjoy your paperwork." She smirked slightly, and got up, gathering her notebook and coat (discarded because she was sitting in the sun).

"You're going to get in so much trouble!" Allen hissed at her.

She chuckled and half-skipped off. She had a loping gait as she roamed the hallways, tired of being inside. _**Embracing the bad-girl inside?**_

_Ha ha ha! As if! Only for now. I need to go outside and fly, or something. I'm so sick of being told I can't so this or I can't do that… being inside totally sucks._

_**Once again, I extend my offer.**_

_You know, I may actually take you up on distancing myself. No-one really has anything to do with me anyways._

_**So, you're taking me up on the offer?**_

_Mm… not yet._

She sashayed around a corner, and the Third exorcist aura hit her like a brick wall. It startled her so completely she tripped over her feet and fell down…

…Landing on the stairway.

She slid down, until she grabbed for the railing, and with a painful jerk, she had stopped. Her wrist stung, and her legs were sore from falling, but otherwise she was okay. Carefully finding the flat part of the stair, she began to get up.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Did I run into you?" the sharp pain behind her eyes started up again as one of the Thirds came over to her.

"I don't care, get away!" Celesta said sharply. He looked rather taken aback. She felt bad as she realized it was Tokusa, the most tolerable of the five. Which was actually saying a lot for her. _**Well, it's not exactly normal for somebody to-**_

Her embarrassment at yelling at him like that melted away back into fury. _SHUT UP!_

………_**!**_

Celesta was fed up. Completely fed up. She didn't want the voice to be bossing her or making snide comments, she wanted the Third exorcists to just _go the hell away_. She ran past the Third, taking the stairs two at a time, and sprinted to the roof, the one place she could feel free.

Her coat was left behind, as she pitched herself off the edge, unfurling her long wings as soon as she was clear of the ledge. She went up as far as she could, looping up into a sharp ascent.

Celesta closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Her breathing was sharp and ragged from running and being so angry for no reason at all. Something had changed inside her, and it was breaking her fast. Had her dreams been warning her of this? Or was it some sort of freak accident?

Was she an accident?

_**No, just because you have a voice in your head doesn't mean your existence wasn't supposed to happen. And everything else is all coincidence, a chain of events.**_

The voice was unnaturally soothing for once. She welcomed the sound, soft against her wounded pride and hurt feelings. Her broken spirit…

…_**I don't like any of this stupid war stuff anyway. It scares me, sometimes.**_

_I can't do this anymore. I've been falling apart since I came here. _Celesta spread her wings and looped back toward headquarters. _I need to leave._

_**Where are we going? You haven't taken my offer yet, I know that. Not all the way.**_

_No, _she agreed. _I haven't. But I can't be so unstable right now, not with this war. Not with my friends worrying about me. I need to leave, and recollect my thoughts. I'll still support the Black Order and fight any Akuma that I encounter. I just need to escape the confinement._

She folded her wings and dropped as she neared the order. She searched for the open window of her room, and climbed in soundlessly. She deactivated her Innocence, and saw a slip of paper near her door. She walked over, and picked it up. It was a note from Lavi.

_I heard about the incident from Tokusa. Do you want to talk? I'll be in the library, that place in the back by the big stained-glass window. Please stop by. Lavi_

Celesta wanted to cry, but pulled herself together and walked out to the library. She couldn't just leave without warning; but did it have to be Lavi? He was probably the last person she wanted to say this to. She weaved between shelves, coming up with what she'd say to him. She couldn't bring herself to hurt him, and she didn't want to hurt anyone else, but… Before she had anything, she saw him. He was sitting there, on the floor, where he said to meet him.

He looked up when he heard footsteps. "Celesta!"

"Hi," her voice was choked. "I'm so sorry about lately. I've been so, so," she fished for a word.

"Broken?" he offered, after a slight pause. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she was brought back to that night he'd 'kidnapped' her. It had been the first deep connection she had made since Elizabeth and Melody.

"Yeah," Celesta croaked. "I don't know what's going on."

He stood and held her hands. "I'll help you. We can figure it out, and everything will be good again, 'kay?" he smiled his most Lavi-ish smile. She hated it. Which made this so much worse.

She looked at her feet as he tried to find her gaze. "Celesta?" his voice was soft with concern. "Tell me what you need, and I'll try to get it."

She looked up at him. "No, Lavi. I need to do this alone. I'm so sorry." She drew in a breath to calm herself, ashamed he had to see her like this. "I have to leave."

Lavi paused. Then, "What?"

"I need to leave, and figure this out. I'm confused, and what I need is a chance to get out and figure myself out."

"Why?" his voice went to pleading. "I mean, you really can't stay here? Why are you leaving us?"

"I'm sorry." This was all she could muster without completely breaking down on the ground, letting everything out. "I've been falling apart, and I need to recollect my thoughts."

He was looking away this time. "I'll be back, though, if I can." She assured him.

"Promise me you won't die."

She smiled sadly. "I can't make impossible promises."

_-*-_

Celesta was off that night, wheeling across the sky. Any other night she would've enjoyed it. But tonight, her heart was heavy.

She had cleared her mind to control the pain welling up inside her, and was doing pretty well. It helped that she could watch the lakes of the British countryside go past her. She noticed a train, and dropped lower to find the tracks. In either direction, there would be a station and she could get a ticket.

A gust of wind ruffled her feathers, making them clink like champagne glasses. Like she had when her dreams troubled her, her breathing got quick as she felt the oncoming panic attack. She felt herself lose altitude

_(In the icy air of night_

_All the stars, that over sprinkle_

_All the heavens, seem to twinkle_

_With a crystalline)_

Celesta got her focus back. She hadn't had any trouble from her dreams lately; she could keep it up. She spotted the station and circled lower, like a vulture.

Making sure she was in the trees, out of sight, she deactivated her Innocence and was about to put on her exorcist coat, when she realized that was going to attract attention to her. The lapel was like a flag. She scowled, and dumped it onto the ground. She'd buy a coat at the next station. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked out onto the cobblestone.

Celesta watched the station recede into the gathering darkness as the train moved away. As they got farther away, snow started to fall down in big clumps, making her wish for her coat even more. Just a long sleeved shirt wouldn't cut it for long. Her sigh made a foggy circle appear on the glass.

She closed her eyes and hummed softly. Letting her breath out in a long _whoosh_, she opened them again, and watched the moon fly by alongside the train.

_-*-_

_Hey diddle diddle,_

_I'll dance to a fiddle_

_For a song, I'll give you a rhyme._

_I'm running away_

_To find my center_

_And I'll keep moving down the line._

_Hey diddle diddle,_

_I'll dance to a fiddle_

_In the morning I'll be long gone_

_I may seem alone_

_But I've got no home_

_So I'll just keep moving along._

_-*-_

It took me forever to be satisfied. I hope it's good now… it feels good. I'm happy, at the very least! Thanks for reading thus far. I have a warning: the next several chapters will be mostly Celesta on her own, and I'm thinking about reviving Thomas… maybe…

Thought? Questions? Comments? Nasty remarks?


	14. Complications In The Plan

A/N: Fffvv… I've been so tired lately. I'm a nocturnal creature. X3 Hi5 other creatures of the night! (but not vampires, I'm a lycan –evil grin-) this chapter's theme song is "Circles" by Switchfoot.

_-*-_

There was some worry when Lavi didn't come down in the morning. Lenalee (being the motherly type) was completely spazzing.

"What do you think happened to Lavi?!" she asked, hysterical while she basically exploded across the hall. Kanda was happily (the apocalypse! The f-ing apocalypse!) watching the show of a group of fully capable (well, minus Chaoji) young adults jumping around like idiots (though Allen already was one).

Bookman was annoyed with basically everyone. Lavi hadn't even moved that morning. He was like a log. Moron. This better not become a habit; especially not over a flighty girl.

_-*-_

Two days later

_-*-_

Celesta got off at a station a little over halfway down the line. She wasn't all the way sure where she was, but she was pretty certain she was near Scotland. Her first order of business? A coat. She found a small shop and got a trench coat in a shade of dark grey. She was out and moving to the next train as soon as she had purchased it.

_**So, our plan of action is..?**_

_Go to Scotland, and get on a ferry to Ireland._

_**Why Ireland?**_

_Because… I don't know. I feel drawn to it. Just come along for the ride._

_**Well, then. Fun.**_

_**Still can't believe you've grown balls. Just up and leaving like that, leaving behind your friends and your-**_

_Seriously, shut up. I can't take that right now._

…

Celesta spotted something that looked vaguely familiar… she quickened her pace to get a better look at the small, black object…

Flying down the track… oops. She had completely forgotten her golem, which was usually in hibernation mode. She never used it, eh. The tiny creature (?) seemed to recognize her, and sped up its already quick pace to meet her. It smacked into her face, making her wonder if this was another Komui joke: a klutzy golem for a klutzy exorcist. Righting itself in midair, it began to flap around with the same demeanor of a dog wagging its tail.

"Okay, so you're coming for the ride, too?" it nodded itself quickly. "'Kay. Good thing you don't eat."

A loud _bang_ sounded, probably miles away, but Celesta's finely-tuned senses immediately wanted to go check it out. She sprinted until she found a secluded spot to activate her Innocence and take off. The voice refused to shut up. _**The hell you think you're doing?! You're not with the order anymore, you left-**_

_Never said I wasn't with the order, I'm just not the frontline anymore. I'm help from the shadows. _She dove down as soon as she saw the low-flying blackish cloud. Unfortunately, she landed really fast and had to run to keep her balance. She skidded to a halt right before a sudden drop-off on one of the huge hills surrounding the area. With a sharp gasp, she saw a horde of Akuma (probably no more than level 2, but in a huge group) crawling, resembling locusts. "Golem, send a distress signal to any branches or exorcists in the area. Also send a message to headquarters, in case we're missing someone around here." she quickly dropped her coat to the ground and opened her great wings. They reflected the sunlight, sending prisms all around her.

_**Wait wait wait wait wait!!!! You're not going to go down there, are you?! Don't don't don't!**_

_Tally ho!_ Celesta jumped forward in a dive, gracefully twirling through the air. She unfurled her wings and dove down into the midst of the Akuma horde. She couldn't destroy them all, but she could break down the numbers. Help out from the shadows. Slashing with her flight primaries, she found a sick sort of pleasure at the blood oil splattering across the ground and the satisfying _ka-ka-kaboom_ of the Akuma blowing up. It was a good sound.

_**God, does that sound weird.**_

She narrowly dodged a bullet, whirling around it and kicking off the canon it had shot from. She felt like the wild: unbridled and unabridged. No-one could ever have this- it was _hers_. How it felt to have something that belonged to her! There was a sudden yell, half a scream half a dog-like yelp. She stopped in midair, turning her torso slightly to look around. On the drop-off she had stood on she saw Chaoji Han. Hadn't expected to see him here.

Celesta's body tensed up and she felt like someone was watching her from behind. With a sharp motion she backhanded the…

Dammit. It was Allen, coming straight at her. His head violently jerked to the side. Her eyes widened in shock. He fell toward earth, and she could tell Chaoji had taken that the wrong way. He had never liked her- his stupid grudge against the Noah, and her resemblance to them always made his blood boil. She was annoyed that he hated her for no reason other than the death of his poor little Anita-sama. With a furious growl, Celesta folded her wings and dove toward the ground.

"Allen!" she yelled, still going down fast. She was going down like a missile, so fast that when she grazed an Akuma, a gash showed up she wasn't aware she could make. Not that she was focusing on that anyway.

Allen was hanging painfully by his arm (his Clown Belt barely kept connected him to the drop-off) when Celesta swooped upward and grabbed Allen, both narrowly missed the next barrage of bullets aimed their direction. They landed on the top of the drop-off and collapsed into a crumpled heap. From there, they could see that the Akuma horde had been hugely depleted; nonetheless, the number was still enormous.

"Wow…" Allen breathed. His eyes were huge with shock and bewilderment.

"Wow?" Celesta eyed him. "We're talking about a massive cloud of Akuma and you say 'wow'?"

"Well, it's kind of overwhelming. I mean, you usually run into one or two nowadays. Herds like this don't usually show up."

Celesta's nerves went directly through the figurative roof. She lurched to her feet, fearful of the huge groups of Akuma since her… "accident". "I'm going to go…" she motioned vaguely to the vast sea of metal bodies. Allen gave her a look. She rolled her eyes in reply, and reopened her wings, with the soft sound of glass plates scraping together. Chaoji came running right then, much to Celesta's annoyance. She snorted and arrogantly turned on her toe.

"Hey, wait a second!" the irritating Chinese exorcist snapped as he ran as fast as his (admittedly) short legs would carry him. "Stop it! Get back here!"

She pitched over the drop-off and twirled out of the way of bullets and canons. She closed her wings in and dove until she came to the thick of the pack. Opening her quartz-glass wings, she destroyed a fair amount of Akuma. The shards and bullets hit other Akuma, causing a chain reaction. More kept replacing the ones destroyed.

She vaguely registered Allen had joined her. Which meant Chaoji was probably somewhere beneath her. She spotted him, and dove to help him farther below, considering how few were higher up. His eyes narrowed and he attempted to hit her. She pulled upward in an arc, holding in her fury until later. She'd definitely hit him later. For now, the anger helped her become a lethal weapon.

After a fair amount of time, Celesta noticed that no more Akuma were there. She hovered in space looking around, lost in thoughts. The entire hill had pockmarks and huge craters where Akuma bullets hit the earth, even the Akuma themselves.

"Celesta!" Allen yelled from the foot of the hill. He waved his cursed arm in the air to get her attention. She looped off to where the other exorcists stood. She landed softly on the ground, deactivating her Innocence and making a mental note to cut her hair one of these days. "Hey. Where'd you go? Why did you leave?"

Celesta was caught slightly off guard by this. The voice had been so quiet lately, she wasn't sure if it was just a stress reaction or an over-reaction to a spirit. _**I'm not sure how long I can hold this connection anymore. You've been too headstrong. I might not be able to do what I was told.**_

_What were you told?_

_***sigh* Your mind is too pure, I'm not sure if I can use it at all. And yet you want to know more, so I have to hold out…**_

"I had to leave. I've been, well…" she sighed. "I need to recollect my thoughts and push forward. I needed to get away and figure out some things."

"Such as?" Allen asked, his head cocked very slightly to the side.

Celesta opened her mouth and then closed it. "I'm not exactly sure what it is. That's why I left."

"Do you have any idea what it is? I might be able to help. I think I understand what you mean."

"… Somebody seems to want something that I have something to do with. So, I'm trying to figure out what I would know or have they want so badly. I can't do that when I have people trapping me."

Allen's eyes widened and he closed them with a sad smile. "I think I know what you mean. I wish I had the strength like yours to figure out what's happening to me before I can't." There was something about Celesta, like an aura that radiated out. It was bright, but it had dark points swirling about it. Her life had not been easy- none of theirs had. And now…

Now everyone wanted people for their own reasons, pulling them around in circles and making them jump through hoops, testing them. They had to band together; all of them. Even if it meant, like Celesta, exorcists leaving to make their own way and shape their own lives.

"Hey, Allen?" Celesta looked at him gently. "If you had the chance, would you leave? Or am I just a weird person?"

Allen couldn't help but smile at her. "Yeah, I probably would-"

"Why? What kind of exorcist just leaves? What is it that's so important you have to find?" Chaoji had been quiet until now. Celesta glared at him, furious. She narrowed her tawny hues and strode over to him. He carried on , obviously not realizing how and angry woman was bad news. Hadn't he ever heard _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?_ He and the stupid blonde stable hand in Oxford must be related. "What is it you're planning? Why would you ask Allen something like that?!"

Celesta narrowed her eyes even more and tried to hold back a feral snarl. "I told you, I don't know. Now, would you kindly remove yourself from my sight before I seriously mess you up?"

Chaoji had still not comprehended how much trouble he was in. Celesta back-handed him, and kicked the side of his head after busting out his kneecap. Yes, these injuries would take some explaining. He had gotten in one hit and she was bleeding heavily from her left jaw (he hadn't deactivated his Innocence).

With a growl she wiped the blood from her mouth and took off back into the air, her coat flapping softly in the wind. She was glad she had taken it off; it wouldn't have come out nearly as well as she had in a battle.

Sighing inwardly, she wheeled off in the direction of Ireland. She'd hit a ferry later.

_**I'm sorry I can't tell you more about all of this. It must be very confusing.**_

_Yes, it is. I really want to know why you need me, of all people. I'm so ordinary. I'm not the Destroyer of Time or… or I don't have a Crystal-type Innocence, I didn't fight in any major battles, I'm not a bookman…_ she thought of Lavi with a pang of sadness in her heart.

_**I think that's why: if something goes wrong, Master is hoping no-one will notice. It's not very realistic. I've told him how much you and Bookman Jr. are together, how close you are. You have friends, too, so it's not like **_**nobody**_** would notice.**_

_That's oddly reassuring. Thanks._ She began to wonder what was so important that could go wrong. _Can I at least get an idea of what this is?_

…_**you sense spirits, correct? Master needs someone who has a strong sense about spirits and knows how to get in touch with them.**_

_You mean, call them? I can't do that. They just kinda… show up and I ignore them, usually._

_**Usually?**_

_Unless it's somebody who really has problems! Drop it!_

_**Jeez! It was just a question!**_

Celesta tuned out her mind and focused on something else. The sunset. Yes. The sunset. An owl hooted somewhere slightly below her. She dropped down to fly with somebody, hopefully.

The barn owl's speckled wings brushed hers as it got closer to her. It hooted in its odd little crying way. She reached out a hand to rub its head. The barn owl flew alongside her, and she thought about Lavi.

She wasn't the kind to daydream really, anymore. But she thought about what could've been between them, thought about what was, held onto their moments alone and theirs talks when he would be himself…

Would she ever see him again?

_-*-_

Lavi looked out his window silently. Bookman was probably asleep, but the red-haired teen couldn't relax enough. He had heard the transmission from Allen and Chaoji about meting up with Celesta in Scotland. He had hoped that maybe, just maybe, she might have decided follow them, and she would be home again, safe.

It was so much harder to say goodbye to her than he had ever imagined.

_-*-_

Celesta found a train station, and bought a ticket for the next morning. She took out the golem and recorded what happened that day.

Celesta then rocked back and forth on her heels, trying to decide whether or not to call Headquarters. She sighed softly. "Golem, contact headquarters." Once done so, no-one picked up. She left a message. "Celesta M. Treani, in Scotland, going to Ireland. There was a horde of Akuma, but it's gone now. I'm holding out fine, hoping to find out more about someone's need for spirits. Contact me if you need any help."

She ended the transmission, and found an inn to stay at overnight. Sleeping was good.

_-*-_

Yay! It's done! Yay! *parties* I'm finally on holiday break, so I'll be writing more. But I spend a long time editing, so it might be more like you get a couple chapters after a week and a half. Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope I make those of you happy who are wondering why the heck Celesta left. (I'm not going to kill her, so she'll be going back. I have a tendency to kill my characters… eh, shhimaninja knows what I'm talking about…) Please review!


	15. Angel

A/N: this chapter's theme song is "Prayer of the Refugee" by Rise Against.

_-*-_

Nearly one week later

_-*-_

"End of the line! All off!" the conductor wailed. Celesta jolted awake. She hadn't slept in almost two days, so she made the most of her time on the trains. She looked out the window, where people were having joyous reunions while others waited for their families or friends to come off the train.

She sighed and picked up her long grey trench coat and knapsack, containing her few possessions. She stepped into the half-light of a cloudy day. After stretching her back out, she looked around the small square of the train station. _I should really buy a map._

_**Where are we, anyway? It's so… so… well…**_

_I think we're in Ireland? Last time I checked, we were. I'm getting a map._

Celesta walked over to a stand selling all sorts of Irish memorabilia. She pawed through the different maps, looking for a good, cheap one. She found one she liked (and could read) and paid for it.

She was just about to turn around, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around, prepared to run/fight/take flight depending on who/what it was. She had a low trust ratio. To her blatant surprise, it was Thomas. "Ah! I knew it was you!" he cried like they had been best friends their whole lives. "Here on business?"

She mentally slapped herself and regained whatever composure was left in her. "Uh…" She had little in the composure department.

"Heh! You don't remember me? It's Thomas, you know, from the stable? Fancy seeing you here!"

"Oh, um, I'm not here on 'business', really." She sheepishly looked to the side. "I'm more of, setting off on my own."

"Is Lavi here?" it was innocent, he was just curious, but it poured salt in newly closed wounds. Celesta felt tears in her eyes, and blinked them away.

"No," she managed. "Just me. I'm not with the Order, really, anymore. I'm not really with anyone."

"Oh," Thomas' eyes widened. "Oh, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I mean…" he put his hand on her wrist. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second! What do you mean?"

"I mean come stay with my family. I don't think anybody will really mind. If you don't mind, I'll just tell them you're my lady friend, and they'll be thrilled. They've been trying to get me wedded off for years."

"Got… it?" she was being dragged along. "No funny business, though. I just need a place to stay until I'm ready to move on. And maybe some work…"

"My dad owns an inn. My mom and sister work in it, so that's taken." He paused. "But we do have stable, like the one I work at. I'll get you a position."

"Oh, no, Thomas, that's too much! I barely know you!" Celesta waved her free hand in denial.

"Whatever." Thomas stopped to look at her. "I'd do anything, _anything_ for you, if it could be of help."

She could feel the tears threaten to overflow. _You don't have to do this, not for me. Not for someone so broken. I'll only cause problems. …But thank you. I'm sorry to just take. But I'll make it up to you, I promise._

Thomas hailed a cab**1** and they got inside. It wasn't a long way, but it was dangerous city traffic. Along the way, Thomas gave her an idea of his family.

She was kind of listening, but not exactly. She had gathered the sister and the mother, and he had moved onto his father...

"My father's going to approve of you, 'coz he was a huge supporter of the Black Order. Knew several exorcists. He's always bragged he was a Finder, but I think it's a load of rubbish. Don't tell him, though! I bet he'd love to hear about what's been going on…"

"Thomas." Celesta looked him in the eye. "I can't let them know I was with the Order. It would cause all sorts of problems, and I can't take that right now. Not with what's been going on."

"Oh, okay." Thomas looked down with a blush. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's me, I've just been so lost as of late and I…" Celesta's voice cracked. "I miss my friends at headquarters…"

Thomas put a hand on her forearm. "It'll be okay." He told her, with a sweet little smile on his face. "You're so strong; nothing bad could come to you."

The cab pulled to a stop. "We must be here, then." Thomas opened the cab door and let her through.

The family meeting would've been great, provided that the same man who had stopped her in the hallway when she and Lavi went to Oxford wasn't in the inn's lobby. Celesta stiffened by Thomas' side, and he turned to her.

"What's wrong?"

"That… that man, over there, in the chair. I've met him before." She shivered involuntarily. He turned to look at the two young adults standing in the doorway. His eyes opened in recognition and Celesta's fight or flight instincts went back into action. She tensed, ready to spring out of the nearest window.

"Celesta, calm down!" Thomas hissed. "Maybe he won't do anything. You never know!"

Celesta resisted the urge to slap him. _**Come on, calm down. He's not doing anything.**_

_Not now, but he will. He recognizes me. Crap._

The older man walked toward them. He looked at Celesta gently, which made her all the more riled up. "I think we've met before. Were you in Oxford at any time in the last couple of weeks?"

That did it. Her nerves were fried. "Uhm…"

"Yes, I do believe we've met before!" He smiled like they'd been friends their entire lives, or closer. It was kind of embarrassing to be seen like this; she hadn't really done much in the way of personal hygiene lately, and he looked like a model. "I don't think I introduced myself properly. I'm Tyki Mikk. And you are..?"

"I'm Thomas Marlin. This is Celesta Treani." Celesta swiveled her head quickly to look at him in disbelief. Why had he..?! She didn't want this Tyki guy knowing who she was!

"That name sounds familiar…" Celesta freaked out suddenly and punched his jaw, causing his head to go backwards and many people give her odd looks, including Thomas. She was having a breakdown, right here, in public. She could feel her throat closing up and the cold sweat on her neck, the tell-tale signs of a nervous breakdown. Spinning on her toe, she bolted through the door. She sprinted out through the township, dodging cabs and people, just trying to get away. Why was it that everywhere she went she was trapped? It was like she was running courses for somebody to see how far she could stretch. Her back prickled with ice, and she knew someone was following her…

And the voice's presence had completely disappeared. She hadn't felt her head so empty in weeks. There was nothing, no aura, no pressure, no sound… That meant things were going to get so beyond bad for her.

Celesta ran quickly into an alleyway, hoping to take off from there, when she almost ran over another Noah. He was shorter than Tyki and had a different air about him (more arrogant and at ease with himself), but was most definitely a Noah. The grey skin was kind of a dead giveaway. She skidded to a halt, and he smiled in the way she assumed an apprehended murderer would. "I told you we would probably meet each other."

Her mind went completely black, spreading across her eyes and cutting her senses, then moving along her body, paralyzing her. Yeah, her day just got a whole. Lot. Worse.

_-*-_

She had no memory of what had happened before. She woke up, and was suddenly "useful". In other words, the Millennium Earl had the ability to use her abilities.

As you can tell, she was thrilled. Hint the sarcasm.

The young exorcist had a strict no shit policy. She took none of that. She wanted information _now_. And if you weren't giving it willingly, she knew a few tricks. One of which was the good old drive a needle through your captor's eye trick. But she didn't have a needle. Dang it. There goes that theory.

So she moved on to violence. And so ended Akuma guarding her. Instead, Tyki had the job dropped on him. He didn't grumble _too_ loudly. Celesta had found all the things she could use as a weapon, including a candlestick. That one was tested on Tyki, who began to complain that _somebody else_ had to help him out, the girl was psycho. His heavily bleeding temple kind of ended that discussion with Lulubell helping him guard the door.

Celesta was actually pretty pleased with herself. Thus far, she had put up quite the fight. She made lots of people displeased, but you know, they didn't have that much choice in the matter. Her only problem currently was the lack of information. She still had no idea as to what was needed of her, and had a very bad feeling about this whole thing.

_-*-_

A distress signal had been sent by Celesta's currently unmanned golem to headquarters. It had gotten away from the Noah, and was trying to follow the trail. Komui had gotten the signal, and, despite what Rouvelier was saying, sent a small group of exorcists to go get her.

"_She_ left; it's her own fault she got in this mess." Rouvelier had argued. "She's a dangerous heretic. Let her be."

"Celesta is not a piece of meat!" the supervisor snapped in reply. "She could have her life in danger and you're acting as if the religion is more important?!"

Rouvelier glared at the Chinese man with his well-honed contempt. "Fine. But you are not to use the ark."

There was really no use in arguing. So the group of Allen, Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda were on their way to Ireland, and they'd go from there. Lenalee was farther ahead then the boys, who were on a train, because she could use her Dark Boots to go farther. "I hate that guy," muttered Lavi, whose hands were clenched into fists.

"You have no idea." Allen replied. He knew exactly how Lavi felt; and his obsession with human life made taking the slow way harder for him. "I'm really sorry," he added in a softer voice.

Kanda had been ignoring them. He was preoccupied, too. His mind had wandered from the train to the place they would find, and what might be there. He was considering sleeping, but that probably wouldn't help their case at all.

_-*-_

Celesta was getting very freaked out in this small room. If they were trying to get inside her head, they were doing a great job of it. She had to calm herself down and told herself to think. This was getting harder as her claustrophobia got more and more defined. She finally curled herself into a small ball, her legs against her chest, and hummed to herself, hoping the sound would make the room go back to its original size.

She heard the soft _clack-clack_ of Tyki's shoes as he came to relieve Lulubell of her post. She had memorized the sounds to keep herself occupied. There was long silence, as usual, and then she heard the _swuff_ as Tyki's back slid against the door when he sat down. "So," he said conversationally. "How are you doing?"

Celesta looked up, and moved very slowly closer to the wooden doorframe. "Are you joking?" she fought to keep her voice moderately level.

He chuckled. "No, I was serious. It's kind of stupid how we've sunk this low." He sighed. "If it's any consolation whatsoever, I wish Wisely didn't choose you, when you're fighting your own demons. There are plenty of people who can sense spirits who wouldn't have a nervous breakdown."

"No, not really." She replied and rested her back against the wall. She sighed softly, and tried to imagine the moon, or the sky. It didn't really matter. She had no idea what time it was, anyway. She thought longingly of the air. "So, am I ever going to find out what this big important thing is you need me for?"

"I honestly don't know the details. Something about a gateway." Tyki stared down the hall (if that's what you'd call it; he was still confused about the whatevers of the ark). Celesta turned her head to look at the door. She could see the shadow of his back from under the door. The she had a wonderful idea. Had she been stripped of her Innocence? Nope. With a soft wind-chime sound, her long wings appeared. So far, he didn't seem to have noticed…

Celesta grinned, and wordlessly used her flight primaries to stab through the door. Tyki yelped in surprise and jumped up. Slamming herself against the door, she brought it down and almost fell over. Barely regaining her balance, she took off at a run through the maze of the ark. It was obnoxiously dangerous, but she had the chance at freedom! She grabbed a door handle and thrust it open, taking off from there. She was really lucky it led just outside, to the air. She was counting on someone following her, probably Lulubell, who had often changed into a great panther on guard duty. It wasn't a big surprise when a huge eagle was chasing her across the skies.

Celesta wheeled around in circles; she was much better acquainted to the air than the Noah of Lust. It was really just a game of life-or-death tag, and Celesta was getting away fast. Lulubell growled, and followed the young exorcist down toward the ground.

As Celesta neared the buildings, she noticed that they looked like the ones in Japan. She must be above Japan, then. Which made enough sense, you know. Nonetheless, she was very lost.

She pulled up quickly and circles around, losing Lulubell long enough to get a plan of action. Lulubell almost smacked into a wall before she noticed the soft glint of moon off of crystalline wings. Smirking to herself, she followed Celesta upwards, intent to kill on her face. This girl was getting on her nerves. She landed and changed to her true form on a rooftop, prepared to strike.

Celesta, on the ground, grinned. She had fallen for it. The amazing things you could do with a pile of busted-out glass. She stayed low and tensed for take-off. She ran quickly once out of sight and took off from the porch of a house. She overheard a soft conversation inside.

"Things have really quieted down, haven't they?" a female's voice said. "Compared to before, I mean. I still can't forget what happened those nine years ago…"

"I'd rather not even speak of that," a man's voice replied. "It's better if we just forget it, in my opinion. The Order can do some terrible things; I would want to remember them as protectors, if we were to die tonight."

"Don't speak like that!" the woman snapped. Their voices hushed to barely a whisper. Celesta activated her Innocence, deciding it was about time to stop testing her luck. She stepped on a board that creaked. She winced. "Did you hear that?" the woman asked.

Celesta heard the sound of a gun being cocked. "I'll go see what it is first." The woman whispered. It was almost silent, she barely heard. The door opened up just a little bit. The woman was young, probably only her early thirties, with long black hair down around her shoulders. She gasped in amazement. She covered her mouth with her hand. Celesta was getting very antsy, needing to take off before the shit hit the fan, as it were.

"A-are you… an angel?" the woman whispered. She had tears hinting at the corners of her eyes. The man showed up behind her, also mesmerized.

Celesta didn't want to lie, but… they seemed to need the hope. "I guess I could be called by that, by some."

The woman gave a soft sob. "Thank you, thank you, for watching over us." There was a sudden shriek of fury from where Celesta had left Lulubell. All three turned toward the sound. The woman caught Celesta's eye. "Go," she said fearfully. "Go, you have to leave, they'll hurt you. They don't like angels."

Celesta nodded gently, and put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll all be okay," she said. Then, she turned and took off into the air. She flew as fast as she could and soon the small town was barely more than a speck below her.

She found a small place she could stay, and roosted there for the night. She was still in Japan, she knew that much. Maybe she would stay here, in the Akuma capital, and help those in need. Yes, that's what she'd do.

_-*-_

Lavi, Allen and Kanda got a transmission from Lenalee. She was in Ireland, and they were one stop away. "You guys? No-one has seen Celesta around. Somebody said she ran off, and then was seen later with a well-dressed man and another boy who looked like a gypsy. Do you think it was Tyki Mikk?"

"I don't think there's really any 'maybe' about that description." Allen replied sorely. He and Tyki never really got along.

"Where would they be, then?" Lavi asked, trying not to sound hysterical. His heart was in his throat. Kanda eyed him. "Where do you think?" the swordsman asked.

"Japan, the Akuma capital." Lenalee and Kanda told him at the same time.

Lavi almost passed out. He had no fond memories of Japan.

_-*-_

The Japanese woman was praying for the first time in years. Her Angel had given her hope for Japan again. As long as she was here, things could get better. She just had to keep hoping.

"Riku, are you going to bed soon?" Riku's husband asked. She turned slightly.

"Yes," she replied, and finished her prayer. She put a candle on her bedside table, and watched it burn. The light gave her warmth that spread through her body, filling her heart with hope. Maybe, just maybe, things would be good again, and the world she had always dreamed of could exist.

Just maybe.

_-*-_

**1** I meant a horse-drawn cab.

Anyway, I never really meant to have Thomas show up again, but I kind of just went with it. He showed up again (my characters do as they please…) and I used him to thread my story along. I'm somewhat tempted to keep Riku around… maybe (review?).

Finally, I'm very thankful to you who have reviewed! You make me feel so loved! -gives out giant-size monster cookies- ^_^


	16. Familiar

A/N: there is some Spanish in this; it's very rudimentary, considering I only speak a little bit of Spanish (picked up from my dad). My understanding outweighs my actual speaking TT TT U. This chapter's theme song is "Feel Good Inc." by The Gorillaz.

_-*-_

**Dream**

_-*-_

The house was small, but it was all she had ever known. It could never, never be gone. It was her home.

The Joshua tree had been her favorite place in the entire town. She felt as if she could see everything in the hell-hole of the American desert. As such, she spent as much time in the large bush's branches, drawing. The detached ten-year-old loved to draw the birds that roosted in there the best.

Today, she was drawing a peregrine falcon that had landed nearby the tree. The tiny bird was looking at her oddly, as if not quite sure what to make of her. It finally just flew off. The tall-for-her-age black-haired child watched it leave, sadly. The air must've felt like silk that day; so perfect.

"Celesta? May I see your drawing?" She swiveled her head around to look at her older brother, with a blinding smile. "Sure, _si_." She flaunted her ability to speak to him in Spanish, the way he did to her sometimes. "_Muey bien! _You're getting better." The seventeen-year-old leaned over to look at her drawing, his brown hair tickling her nose. Both had matching pale skin, despite the sunny conditions. "_Bonita,_ you're wonderful."

The little girl glowed at the praise. She had a gift for drawing things, and had only practiced drawing because her brother loved to see the birds she captured in time. In truth, she found drawing somewhat boring. She never _went_ anywhere. "_Gracias."_

"_Denada._" He picked up the sketchpad and looked at her many pictures. He flipped through the pictures, feasting his eyes on the many, many birds. "You really are incredible at this. I bet you could have a career in art someday." He put a hand gently on her arm, where the odd birth-marks had been her whole life. She liked it when he did that. It made her feel special, not a freak, like the other kids called her.

She often cried when she came home from school, sometimes with cuts from fighting. The words of the other kids still rang in her ears. _"Freak,"_ some spat, looking at her with cold eyes. _"I bet your mom was some drug addict, or an alcoholic, so you came out weird. No-one looks like that."_ To these remarks, she'd often put on her perfectly made façade, hiding behind her sarcasm and acting aloof, like it didn't hurt. Which, contrary to popular belief, only encouraged them.

But Adrian was always there for her. He always protected her. Nothing bad would happen in their home, not even if the world blew up.

Her world was so perfect, lost in time… she should've known it wouldn't last.

As Akuma slowly passed over the town, the two were talking and Celesta attempted to teach her brother how to draw birds. They didn't notice the Akuma until they were close enough to be heard- which translates to lethal.

_-*

Celesta sat up, a cold sweat drenching her back and neck, woken by the too-real sound of gunfire. Looking out from her rocky outcropping, she could see the small group of ball-shaped Akuma moving slowly along past her hidey-hole. She got up quickly and leapt into the fray.

The Akuma were obviously taken by surprise. Exorcists were almost never here (probably the reason the Earl enjoyed Japan so much). There wasn't much of a fight. Celesta lighted back down onto the ground, checking around to see if anyone was hurt badly. It looked like a few houses were battered but nobody was really hurt this far.

The same woman as last night had apparently spread her story, because many of the people were referring to her as "Angel". Which was rather embarrassing, considering how she had left the place where most people would tell you angels came from. The word most would call her by would be "traitor"… though, that word was getting thrown around a lot among the inhabitants of the Order.

"Angel," a small voice said, and Celesta looked down to see a little girl, probably six or seven, tugging on the hem of her coat. "Angel," she repeated, like it was all she could say.

"Yukino! Yukino, come back! Where did you go?" the woman from last night came running down the street (probably tough in a kimono, Celesta noted, once again thankful that the order did not require women to wear skirts, with the exception of Lenalee). "Yukino!"

Celesta picked up the little girl and walked over to the woman. The crowd of people moved as she walked past, like water. _The ripple effect_, Celesta thought as she tried not to laugh at the surrealism of it all. "Here," she said, holding the tiny girl out to her.

Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she took the little girl. "Thank you," she said, before launching into mom-mode. "Yukino-chan, why did you run off like that? You know not to do things like that!"

"Angel," she pointed at Celesta with a child's love in her eyes. "I wanted to see the Angel. Thank you for keeping us safe, Angel." She smiled hugely, and once again Celesta had to choke back a laugh. This whole thing, _her whole freaking life_, was like a dream. A really sick, twisted, wacked-out dream where everything was thrown obnoxiously out of proportion. _A Gothic fantasy. We have the insane kid (me) and a vampire (Krory). Heck, we even have the sick sense of humor. Let the show go on._ She thought with a smile.

"What's your name?" Celesta asked the woman, still talking with the girl named Yukino.

She looked slightly taken by surprise, but ducked her head and murmured "Riku. My name is Riku."

"Goodbye, then, Riku." Celesta smiled and leapt into the air gracefully, arching her back to loop upwards. Okay, okay, so she was showing off a little bit to the congregation below. And at the same time, she was trying to give the hope that things were looking up by appearing care-free. It was a trait she had picked up from Lavi, and would keep using to her advantage. In the deepest depths of her darkened heart, though, she still felt that it would take more time than the human race would ever have to defeat the Millennium Earl. Because you can't stop death and that's what the Earl needed to create his army: death, and the despair that came with it.

_That's why I don't understand the need for my power to speak with the spirits. It's not like I can bring spirits back, and I can't cross over into whatever awaits to… I don't know. Besides, if there was anything I could do, wouldn't I have done it before?_

_Or maybe I have… But how could I do something and not realize it?_

_-*-_

Okay, okay, so Lavi was at the end of his nerves and was worrying himself into a stupor, but that whole ripping things up thing was getting annoying. Allen finally lost it and blew up. "Lavi! Seriously, stop destroying the map! We _need_ that!"

Apparently, the redhead hadn't noticed his vandalism scattered across the floor of the train compartment. "Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry." He looked out the window, and tried to focus on the scenery whipping past. His mind kept wandering, unfortunately. Allen felt really bad for yelling at Lavi, and went into sulk/beat-self-up-about-unimportant-things mode. Kanda had been asleep for the past hour, because he had a very low tolerance for stress levels and often just ignored them (translates literally into "slept until it was over").

They had made their last stop in China, and Lavi was getting more and more antsy. He couldn't stand waiting for anything, especially not something like whether or not he would find a living body or a dead body.

A hawk flew upward in a graceful arc, the way he had seen Celesta do when she practiced flying outside. She probably would've been mortified to find out that he watched her fly around, but it was so pretty. He just couldn't look away. The hawk circled around and flew somewhere over the field, going parallel to the train. He thought randomly about how much Celesta was like a hawk. Graceful, fast, free… the epitome of nature.

_-*-_

Four days later

_-*-_

Celesta's mind raced as she tried to lose Lulubell, who had been sent after her again. Lulubell had a killing instinct driving her as she raced after the stupid exorcist girl. She was still sore after her last ridicule. The Earl had been furious, and mocked her in front of everyone.

"_The exorcist escaped you?" the Earl asked, angry but ever-smiling._

"_Yes, master." Lulubell had her head ducked, and if she had the nerve to transform, her tail would've been tucked to her belly. "I'm very, very sorry. I won't let it happen again."_

"_Like hell you won't," was the reply, and he hit her. Hard. Hard enough to draw blood. Lulubell's eyes were wide with shock. The Master had never done anything like that to any of his disciples. She fought back tears, and gave the blood-muffled reply of, "Of course not."_

_Everyone was silent, even though some found it rather funny that the Earl would raise a hand to such a suck-up. But a secret fear, and new respect for the Earl grew in each of the Noah's hearts: he had never raise a hand to any of them, no matter what. Had something changed inside their beloved master?_

_Lulubell had been so embarrassed, and had cried bitterly that night, swearing to herself that the flying girl wouldn't escape her again._

Her powerful eagle's wings took her through the air at top speeds, and she was steadily gaining on the winged exorcist ahead of her. Celesta, on the other hand, had some tricks up her sleeve she hadn't thrown out on Lulubell.

She threw herself into a back flip through the air when the Noah of Lust was close enough. The eagle screeched with fury and turned around to follow her. Celesta was counting on that. Using the power she had recently discovered, she mentally called out to an Akuma. Surprising, yes, that an _exorcist_ would call to an _Akuma._ Funny how it works sometimes, eh?

A large charcoal form of a skeleton appeared, and Celesta _left her body behind_. She turned herself into the spectral energy that Innocence radiated, and fought the Akuma spirit, not the body. The skeleton, nothing now that the ego and power source behind it were gone, exploded in midair, and Lulubell halted so as not to be burnt by the flying bits of flaming Akuma.

Where had that exorcist gone?! She couldn't have lost her! She just disappeared! Lulubell looked around wildly and saw a slight glimmer, like how the Master had described the gateway between the living world and the dead one. The crossroads…

Lulubell grinned to herself and took off in a different direction. The Master would love to hear this. She really was a mistress of the crossroads.

_-*-_

Celesta chased the Akuma's spirit into a dead end. It probably didn't have very long before it left the crossroad for whatever came next, but she could at least get something out of it, probably.

"Do you know what this place is?" She asked slowly, articulating everything so her voice wouldn't be lost in the wind that was there, but not really.

"The place where none return from, but always come back to," it rasped. "This is the crossroads, where the Maker gets his power." It started to crack. "He had been looking for those who can open the passageway, so he can let more energy out into the world." It laughed. "I'm not certain why I would tell you all of this, exorcist, but I think someone with the strength like yours deserves to know what she can do. Fare thee well, Spectral Keeper. Enjoy your life skimming the surface of this world and the one before: you'll never enjoy what comes next."

"What comes next?" Celesta asked rhetorically. She smiled and watched the specter go, flying away like dust on the wind. She was glad she had found out all this; she didn't intend to hand herself over to the Earl. But she would definitely reap the rewards of opening this dimension. It was what she had been born to do.

_-*-_

Lavi paced the length of the cabin he had hunkered down in as they made the passage to Japan. Lenalee was with them again, even more nervous than him; they had gone this way before, on a different ship with different crew members, but the painful memories remained. She had gone through more than the rest of them. Kanda was also edgy, the future Bookman had noticed. Going home wasn't a happy experience for him. Ever. Period. End of the freaking story.

What would they find there? Lavi hoped nothing. Seeing what would probably be there would hurt, but having to say goodbye again would hurt so much more.

_-*-_

Celesta left the dimension of the dead and flew back to the town. She liked this feeling. She was at ease with herself and had some to terms with her mind. Her powers were going to take some time to perfect and figure out so that she could control them. She looped around, riding the thermals carried off of the sea.

_I suppose I'm going to have to be super careful, now that I showed my true abilities in front of a Noah hell-bent on killing me. _She paused in her rather joyful thoughts. _I wonder what that spirit meant by calling me a spectral keeper. Can I actually use the specters? Or is it just another alias used at the crossroads, like Cerberus or the solid form of Death, even Lucifer? _She pondered this and lowered so that if she reached down she could touch the roof of a house. She let out a low breath and found a place to land. She could keep her Innocence activated for a long time, but not indefinitely.

A long limbed tabby cat mewed from a balcony on a house. She was momentarily wary of the cat, but it had green eyes, and didn't radiate the aura the Noah of Lust did. She clucked her tongue gently and held out her hand to the cute kitty. "Here, kitty, kitty. It's okay, I won't hurt you." The cat mewed again and leaped over to where Celesta stood. It had the prettiest purring voice and wise, almost human, eyes.

"You're a familiar, aren't you?" Celesta asked, rubbing the cat's ears gently. "One of those guardian spirits that will teach me or show me something. So, considering I don't believe in coincidence, what is it that you've come to do?" the cat meowed and leapt down on the ground, trotting along, its tail in the air. Celesta followed it with a small smile. It looked over its shoulder and mewed again. The cat turned down an alleyway and jumped into the window of a house. It looked long abandoned, so she made the assumption she could stay here without bothering anyone. The tabby meowed again, but not to her, instead inside, where another meow sounded, more tired than the green-eyed tabby's. Celesta got wary all of a sudden; her last experience with a meowing sound landed her underwater, in Venice.

But, her common sense had decided to take a hike and so she walked inside. There was a candle holder inside the room, with a candle. Celesta looked around for a match, or something. She saw nothing. Dang it. She searched and found a couple of rocks, one resembling flint. She struck them together, hoping fervently it would work. She got a spark, and aimed it towards the candle. After another couple of minutes, she had light. She looked around, taking in the sad place. There were screens, ripped and with dried blood on them. Doors were thrown off their hinges. Things were scattered across the floor, including a small doll. Celesta tenderly picked it up, looked at it, and sadly thought of the child, or children, who probably lived here.

The tabby cat rubbed against her legs and meowed urgently. Celesta was shocked out of her reverie and followed the cat to the next room. Another cat, long and slim, was on its side on a rug. It yowled pitifully, and Celesta felt terrible for it. The tabby tom mewed sadly and rubbed his nose against his mate's. She sighed, not sure what to do, but leaned down, setting the candle on the floor. The cat had a cut along its belly, stretching from its right elbow down to its right flank. She took off her coat and ripped off a long strip to dab away the blood. There wasn't as much as she had thought, but still enough. _I'm going to need water, _she thought. She turned to the tabby tom. "I'm going to get water to wash off the cut. Please watch over her." With that, she turned and went out the door.

Celesta found what she needed, and returned to the stray cats. She couldn't figure out why she needed to help this cat's mate, but nothing was coincidence.

She washed the cat's wounds and finished patching it up. She didn't have much in the way of medical supplies, but the people who had lived here before had a needle and thread and some medical supplies, such as bandages. The cat would howl with pain every once in a while, and she would silently beg she was doing the right things. Finally, finally, the gash was sealed and she had put bandages on the cat's side. It looked up at her, bronze hues meeting blue ones. The cat meowed softly, and curled up. "So, did I do what you needed?" Celesta asked the tabby tom. It meowed its thanks and purred as it rubbed against her hand. "Okay. I'll be going." The cat put both front paws on her leg and meowed. Celesta sighed and thought about the fact she was in a house, with a roof and stuff. "I guess I'll stay here, if that's your wish." She washed her hands off with a rag, and, after a moment of thought, washed her face and neck. She smiled and found a stash of blankets, which she put out for the cats, who she moved into the small nest. She laid her head next to the strays and fell asleep.

_-*-_

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! It took forever, again, sorry. I'm going to make the next chapter pretty mushy, sorry. It's mostly because I've just been _dying_ to. Eh heh! Please review!


	17. Wishing & Dreaming

A/N: This chapter's theme song is "Saltwater Room" by Owl City.

_-*-_

Lavi's mind wandered before he finally fell asleep. His dreams were strange, but he held onto one tightly. He wished it wouldn't end. Celesta was there, and she cats around her. She was asleep, but looked so peaceful. He had leaned down to touch her cheek, and it felt beyond good, to see her, alive and not hurt. The weeks that had passed were momentarily forgotten; she looked no different. He brushed her hair back from eyes, one of the cats, a green eyed tabby, looked up at him and meowed softly as if to say, "What're you doing here?" he patted the cat's head and it yawned hugely before settling back to sleep.

The motion around her head woke up Celesta, who slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She caught sight of Lavi and smiled gently. She waved her hand weakly to him. "Hi, Lavi. What're you doing here?" He smiled and touched her hand again. She leaned back down and closed her eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess." She said thickly and soon her breathing was deep and slow.

Lavi eyes opened as he was shocked out of his dream. He was back on the ship, making its way to Japan. The dream was so real… was it real?

"Lavi? Earth to Lavi?" Allen waved his hand in Lavi's face before he knocked himself out on a low beam. "Hey! Are you okay?"

"Hn?" Lavi looked at him questioningly. "Yeah, fine. Just great."

_-*-_

Celesta's eyes snapped open and she looked around. She could've sworn Lavi'd been here. The tabby cat meowed at her, and the Siamese mewed a greeting. She smiled and rubbed the cat's ears. She checked the bandages on the cat, who was healing nicely, and went out to find breakfast for the cats. She came back after a little while, and the threesome had their breakfast. "I'll be back later tonight," she told the cats and left.

She walked around, looking for a good place to start her daily runs. She looked out over the ocean, and then smiled. She had never been near the ocean until now. Nothing was making noise or causing destruction that she could see, so she decided to fly above the blue-green body of water. Her wings reflected the ocean, making her appear to be part of it. She smiled and allowed herself to just fly. She saw a ship eventually, still probably ten miles off, and wondered just how far she had gone. She could barely see the shoreline, even with her raptor vision. _Oh, man… I'd better get closer to shore._ She sped up and circled around the ship, wishing to get a better look at it.

There was someone standing on the deck, our on the bow, their face to the wind. She dove down closer to see if she knew this person; they looked familiar. Celesta's eyes widened with recognition at the girl. Lenalee! That was startling to say the very least. She flew down next to port bow and called to her. Lenalee turned her head, and screamed with surprise. Three boys Celesta recognized came running from several different directions, along with some crew members. Celesta's flight instincts came into play at the amount of people and she turned to shoot out back to Japan. Lenalee obviously saw the stress. "No, no, Celesta, stay here! I was just surprised. We've been looking for you since you got captured by the Noah!"

"I wouldn't say 'captured'," she replied with a slight grin. Allen came skidding to halt, almost tumbling over the bow. Celesta had to laugh at the boy's bewildered look. She deactivated her Innocence and landed on the deck. "Fail, Allen, fail." He looked up at her with an expression that was a mix between annoyance and relief.

"Lenalee, what hap-" Lavi began, suddenly cutting off. Celesta was here, and he knew he wasn't dreaming this time. He looked even more shocked than Allen, and even Kanda looked like she had taken him by surprise. Lavi fish-mouthed and finally just closed his mouth. She smiled gently. Then, turning to Lenalee, she asked, "So, why are you heading in the direction of Japan?"

"Like I said, looking for you!" Lenalee replied. It was Celesta's turn to look shocked.

"Looking for me? _Why?_ I left! How did- I mean, yeah, how did you get the permission?" her bronze eyes were wide. "I thought that…"

"Yeah, the Inspector was an ass about it." Kanda finished in place of Lenalee. "He did the whole heretic thing. Preached for nearly a half-hour."

"That's more words than I've ever heard the Mighty Yu Kanda speak in one sitting." Celesta said, her cocky demeanor back. _Something's changed inside her, _Lavi thought. _Getting out really helped her._ _She's stronger than before, at least mentally. Her inner strength shines out. It's a beautiful thing._

_She's beautiful._

After an hour or so of explanations, Celesta said she should probably head back to the mainland. She had fallen into a rhythm and wanted to keep it up. She took off through the air, shooting back toward Japan. Her mind was racing the whole time.

_Will I be allowed to go back? I really want to now. I understand what was wanted, and what I can do._

_But why can't I find it in me to leave?_

She landed in Japan later, and could see the ship over the horizon. Many people had gathered around the port and were looking out at the ship. Yukino was among the children at the shore. She turned to look at Celesta. "Angel!" she said, and waved. The sweetness of it all made Celesta want to cry. _That's why. These people need that hope, and I don't want to take it. I've embodied that hope._ How would she tell them she had to leave? Maybe she'd just disappear…

She went around the town. Nothing bad was happening, which was out of the ordinary. She smiled. _Things are looking up for them. Their power is their hope, their dream of the future. Like Allen. His strength comes from his desire for a better world and his hope that it will come._ She sighed and went back to the cats to check up on them.

_-*-_

The ship came into port later, near evening. There was a lot of buzz from the townsfolk, who all gathered around to see.

Celesta was carrying the Siamese cat who couldn't walk very well. The tabby followed her. The townspeople knew she was leaving, and didn't even care that their Angel was really just an exorcist. She had brought things back to them so that they weren't hiding anymore. They could rebuild and just do their best. Celesta felt one-sided sympathy for them. They had hope, but hopes wouldn't win a war.

Lavi had wanted to speak privately with Celesta, so she brought him to where she and the cats had been living the past couple of days. Lavi took it in, recognizing almost everything in the house. "Déjà vu." He murmured.

"So you had the dream, too?" She asked, turned slightly to him as she made the hurt cat comfortable. "Yeah," he replied.

"So, you wanted to talk about something?" she asked conversationally, but under the words he could sense she was afraid of where the conversation would go. Lavi thought about how to word this. He didn't know how to put his thoughts into words.

Being the word genius he was, he simply blurted, "I love you."

She cocked her head to the side and took in the beet-red exorcist. "That wasn't exactly how I thought this conversation would go. But okay. I kind of like this one better than any others." She smiled at him gently. "So, what else do you need, or want, to say?"

"I really wish you hadn't left." He admitted softly. "I didn't know how to live without knowing if you were okay or not. It was brutal. And then you sent a transmission and I was so relieved and then... then…" he couldn't continue. There wasn't anything else he could voice. She seemed to understand and walked over to him.

"It's okay now," she said, wrapping her arms around his. "I'm not going to leave. I'm going to stay right here, with you. Even though we can't really be _together_, I'll always be here for you." She cuddled in closer to him. He gently wrapped his arms around her and sighed into her raven-black hair. She was warm, and her hands were as soft as they had been the first time her had held them.

"Lavi? Have you ever felt like you can't figure out this huge problem when the answer is staring you straight in the face? And then you wake up one day and you get it?" She paused. "That's what I feel like right now. Like I finally found what I really need."

Lavi kissed her forehead. "Yeah, I guess I have." He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face to his to kiss her. Even if they couldn't be _together_ as she had said, they could be right here, tonight. He would never let her, or this feeling, go.

_-*-_

Celesta wasn't exactly welcomed back to headquarters with open arms (with the exception of Tiedoll, though her barely knew her, and Komui, who looked very relieved she was alive and not muttering to herself). She got the third degree from Rouvelier.

After escaping the inspector's clutches, she was met by Lavi and Allen (who had been begged to come with), and of course Link, who really annoyed her.

"So, how did you fare?" Allen asked, unnaturally snarky this morning.

"How'd it go?" Lavi asked at the same time.

Celesta sighed. "Awful. It was all 'you shouldn't have left, blah-blah-blah, it was stupid and immature, blah-blah-koff-blah, you're under close surveillance again for being untrue to the pope, yadda-yadda-yadda, don't do it again, blah-blah-blahdy, you could've been captured by the enemy and used –like I don't know that, moron- don't talk to me like that young lady –I will talk to you however I damn well please- I'm superior to you –if superior literally translated means idiotic bitchy power mad freakshow who is an inferior speck in the grand scheme of things and should be put in mental institution, then yes, you are quite superior to me- somebody shut her up –no way, I am on a roll _mmfff-_' I was gagged then, which sucked. I mean, come on, the Noah didn't gag me. Hell, I was in a pretty nice carriage. Anyway, continuing. '_Ahem_ just don't leave again or the punishment will be severe, blahdy-blahdy-blah, yadda-yadda, this is my evil master plan, sign your name here, here, and here, _koff _I am relocating you to here, blah-blah-blah, and the world will soon be mine." She paused. "Okay, so not the last little bit with the relocating, the master plan, and the taking over the world parts. Komui looked ticked when he went off on the whole gagging the prisoner bit." She laughed. "You wish you were there."

Lavi smiled. "Undoubtedly." Allen had suffered a giggle fit and couldn't quit laughing. Celesta held him around the shoulders and walked him over to windowsill.

"Don't hurt yourself. Just wait right here while I call the men in white coats." Lavi couldn't help but smile. She was definitely back to normal. Link wasn't enjoying the show nearly as much as the future bookman was. He actually looked rather annoyed with the whole thing. He thought randomly about how much Kanda would enjoy this show, though he'd never let anyone know. Celesta finally left, still laughing. She brushed past Lavi and in the direction of the library.

Celesta had finally decided to get rid of the Poe book. It had kept her rooted in one spot for too long. She first wrote on a piece of paper "Don't stop believing. Never give up. Always love the person you're destined to become." To pass on to whoever picked up the book next. She smiled and put the book back on the shelf and looked for something new (and hopefully with less malice in it) to read.

She opened a well-loved book she had picked at random and let the sweet aura wash over her. It was like it had a soul of its own. She liked this place. She had really missed it.

She was quickly reminded of something she didn't miss nearly as much. The group of third exorcists had apparently gotten a new obsession with stalking people she hadn't been around to see evolve. They were even more unbearable now, because she had yelled at Tokusa. There was a new fury they had all picked up from Tokusa against her.

It was probably after an hour of dealing with them staring holes in her book that she closed it and put on the façade of aloof attitude she hadn't donned since Adrian's death, she walked up to them. "I know we've never been on good terms, but let's just forget those, okay? It will make life oh-so-much easier for all of us." She cocked her head to the side. "Or both of us. You all seem to have picked up on the same emotion, like you have a shared brain or something. It's really creepy. And it gives me a major headache, so cutting it out soon would be helpful to my mental state."

Yeah, okay, so she sucked at self-control. But thus far, they hadn't really reacted violently. She decided to stop pushing her luck and left, acting like she had won. In truth, it was probably just the start of a miniature war.

-------

That evening, Celesta knocked on Lavi and Bookman's door. She knew she was in the clear, because she had passed Bookman going the other way. Lavi opened the door after her second knock. "Oh! Hi. What's up?"

"Care to be kidnapped?" she asked. "I wouldn't mind chatting tonight."

He smiled, and the two made their way up to the roof. The sky was speckled with white stars, and there was a soft coating of snow on the north-most part of the forest surrounding the order. She smiled as she looked out over the world, so pretty. "I bet the air is wonderful tonight. Like silk." She said, turning her head slightly in his direction.

Lavi chuckled. "You're lucky to be able to enjoy it. Most people are stuck on the ground." He sighed. "It kind of sucks. I don't want to give up all of this," he said, hoping she'd understand the meaning below his words. "I don't think I care that much about what I'll miss that I know, but more of what I'll miss that I haven't had the chance to do."

Celesta rolled her head back to look at the sky. "I bet, if we really tried, we could get most of what you want to do done. Tonight is probably the best for flying." She stood up and activated her Innocence. The crystalline wings appeared, leaving Lavi breathless with the beauty of the sky and the moon reflecting off them. It was almost like she was made of the sky. She turned to him, holding out a hand. "Come on, we're not gonna get any younger."

His mouth opened, his jaw dropping. "Wait, wait, you mean-"

She grinned. "It'll be great. Come on, you'll see." She winked. "You just gotta trust me." Lavi blushed slightly when she held tightly onto him. "C'mon, suck it up. We can't fly unless you've got a good hold."

"Uhm, okay." He put his arms around her waist. "To take off from up here, we're going to have to jump off the roof, sorry. But I promise we'll be fine." Celesta assured him. "Okay, ready?" they moved as one toward the edge. "I'll give you a countdown. Three,"

"Wait a second-"

"Two," she continued.

"No, Celesta, are you sure…!"

"One!" she threw them off the roof. Lavi could feel a scream threatening to rip up his throat. They were free falling, and she was laughing! _Laughing! _He felt the sudden tug of the air as they floated upward. Lavi looked up at Celesta's face. It was exhilarated; she really loved the air. As they shot through the low hanging clouds, Lavi could feel the giddiness take over. It really was wonderful, better than he had ever imagined. The moon was so close, its light reflected off their faces and leached everything of color. Celesta stayed closer to the ground than she usually would because she knew while her lungs and heart were bigger so she could get air at high altitudes, Lavi's weren't. _He really does have a good heart though. I think I really love him. We can't be together-together, but we can have our feelings. Lavi, please remember this. Never forget this time._ She looped them around through the midnight thermals.

Lavi began to laugh as they circled and played in the winds. Celesta tried not to cry at the sweetness of this. Her heart was warmed by the fact that he could share this with her, this memory, and their short years together.

Lavi looked at Celesta's face. She had a relaxed expression, like when she slept. She was amazing at this, and his heart expanded with joy. She caught his eye as they swooped over another thermal. "What is it?" she asked, her expression curious.

"Nothing." He said, and kissed her. She was startled, and they dropped several tens of feet, but not suddenly, more like she was coming in for a landing. She closed her eyes halfway as they descended slowly through the moonbeams. They landed on the roof of the order after several minutes. It was a rather fast landing, so they kind of collapsed into a heap as Celesta deactivated her Innocence. They had broken apart as they came closer to the roof, but Celesta kissed him again. She was sitting somewhat awkwardly in his lap, but by this point neither really cared.

"Lavi, do you ever wish we could fall in love? After this time, when you- when you have to do what you originally meant to?" she asked, not willing to say _forget your emotions._ She hated to think that could happen, especially considering this time, right now, with her head spinning.

"All the time." He replied, brushing her hair behind her ear. His hand lingered on her cheek. "I guess I should just make the most of this time, huh?"

She smiled and leaned down to kiss him again as the beginnings of a snow downpour began to float around them. It was surreal, like a dream. They were deeply, madly, truly in love, making the most of their time, stringing it along slowly.

Celesta closed her eyes and melted into Lavi's touch, thinking how much better this was than riding the night air. That was saying something.

Finally, Lavi decided he should probably go before the old man went looking for him. Celesta snorted in reply, still riding her adrenaline high. Once he was out of earshot, she let out a shriek of joy and launched over the roof, dancing over the air like a ballerina, twisting and floating, looping at high speeds in high altitudes.

She laughed and whipped in circles, wishing Lavi had wings so they could enjoy _this_ together. Tears of joy streamed down her face as snow fell on the order's roof. She swung around and danced through the snowfall, forgetting anything that wasn't tonight. She didn't care, she didn't care, she was _free_, she was in love! Her heart soared on its own wings.

_**Ah, the joys of being in love, huh?**_

_I don't even care you're here, you are not real. You are most definitely NOT ruining my mood. Now get lost before I come after you and pummel you into a tiny little lump of meat. I know where you live and what you look like, don't forget, Wisely._

_**Eek!**_

She was pretty sure that was the end of any voice troubles. Her life just got five times better.

Nothing could ever bring her down.

_-*-_

A/N: So there you have it. I have nothing against shared brains (me Kuri and Momo say things at the same time or have dreams that are alike, even wake up in the middle of the night at the same time…) I just used that as an example. I'm probably going to continue, but I've recently hit a creativity wall so it may take even longer than usual to get chapters up… eh. If you ever have any ideas, please just send them to me. I won't be annoyed (I don't if people would get annoyed, I like getting messages).

Thanks to all of you keeping with this story for the past SEVENTEEN CHAPTERS! You guys make me feel obnoxiously loved! It's nice to know my story is good enough to be read. As always, please review!

-(hopefully) Your friend, Shii


	18. Hermes Revival

A/N: I recently thought of how her Innocence doesn't have a name and her powers are scattered and few. So, I decided to explore her powers. This is where some more mythology comes into play. If you don't know the full story of the Greek god Hermes, check out the story. I'll try to explain how it's relevant but knowing the story may help. This chapter's theme song is "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go. Hoshino owns D. Gray-Man.

Final note: _italicized underlined is her Innocence speaking._

_Simply italicized is Celesta's thoughts or the name of an attack._

_**Bold italicized is someone else inside Celesta's mind (mostly just Wisely, and this will be showing up less and less)**_

_-*-_

Even though Celesta had spent over half the night awake, she was still expected to train. Considering how many people were out so she couldn't always spar when she needed to learn, she was put into the charge of General Tiedoll, who was all too thrilled. He loved this part of his job.

Celesta soon realized why Kanda didn't like to see his 'beloved' master. This guy was pretty clingy. And he treated her like she was seven. That got annoying _fast_. But she'd put up with it. Barely.

She also got to spend some quality time with Marie, who was much more bearable than Tiedoll. She liked his aura; it was diluted but kind. It was like… morning air. Right about sunrise, just as the first rays of dawn warm the night. He was fun to talk to.

"Okay, so let's assume, hypothetically, that you've been cornered." Marie said. This was something they did when both were too tired to train. "Training for the mind", as he put it. "There is no obvious escape than through a throng of Akuma. All of which can fly," he added before any words came out of her open mouth. "And you are in a storm. What do you do?"

Celesta paused in thought. "I'd… destroy as many as I could and dodge any attacks aimed at me. If at all possible, I would call for back-up and lead them out of a heavily populated area. Simple."

"Okay, miss smarty-pants," Marie smiled at her. "Let's then assume that your comrade has been badly injured in battle. A Noah has shown up…"

"Which one?" Celesta asked, in all seriousness. "And who's the comrade?"

"What?" Marie was obviously taken aback.

"Well, I need to know so that I can have the variables in a real fight. I'll know who I'm fighting when I'm fighting them." Her bronze eyes bored into the light-blue sightless ones. A smile broke out across the blind man's face.

"You're really something. Alright, you're fighting alongside Chaoji and against Lulubell."

"Can I let her eat Chaoji?" Celesta begged. She really, _really_ wanted to let the hypothetic Chaoji get eaten by the hypothetic Lulubell. "Um, no." Marie replied simply. "Shoot," Celesta muttered. "Mm'k. Lulubell's easy. I've lost her like, a million times already. Ok. Let's hypothetically assume she's still milking her grudge against me. She is going to transform herself into something that flies, but is still deadly. Give me something here, or I'll have to go with her usual: killer eagle."

Marie was dumbstruck but she was on a roll so he let her go, looking for a loophole she forgot to close. "She will attempt to murder me by following me up into the air, which is good because it saves Chaoji's stupid and fat neck. He can survive for the twenty minutes I'm airborne against Lulubell. Okay, I'd use warp-drive and loop around and upward so she couldn't track me, then dive-bomb her so she'd land hard. I would then attempt to fly with Chaoji and get back to wherever we were staying or on the next train back to London. I wonder if I have warp-drive…" she stared out the window. "I'm gonna try it!"

"Wait, what?" Marie grabbed for her wrist but she deftly dodged his large hand. Then, turning to the staircase she trotted off, wondering if she really could fly that fast. Maybe, just maybe… she got to the roof and dropped her trench coat (a new exorcist's uniform was in order, it just wasn't finished yet) and stepped off the edge of the roof. She dropped through the air as a diver does into a pool. She unfurled the long quartz wings, and flew upward in a steep ascent. When she was satisfied with her place in the air, she focused her energies and thought of speed.

_So you're finally attempting to connect with me._ Celesta almost dropped out of the sky. _Who is this?! _The voice wasn't distinctly male or female, but reminded her strongly of Hevlaska. But it was lighter and less distinctive.

_Your Innocence. Simple. You haven't been what most would call open toward my thoughts. You block my help._

_Uh, that's kind of obvious. I don't like others in my head. I've had my share of that. Stupid Wisely._

_Yes, I'm sorry about that. But I can help you when it comes to your abilities. You can go at obnoxious speeds, you just have to focus, like you're planning to open the crossroads. Then use that spirit power to propel yourself across the energies let out. You may actually break the sound barrier, if you get it right._

_Mm'k. Can do. _She let herself relax and let out a soft sigh of breath. Opening her eyes, she let the energies of the world that lived below and only a few knew of swirl about her. With a leap, she arched her wings and shot through the air. She was supple as an arrow released from the bow, and twirled out through the air. _At this speed, I bet could go straight through an Akuma without it knowing what hit it. This is INCREDIBLE! _She slowed released her wings from their tight hold around her body and turned in a huge arc to go around the Order and over the ocean.

Celesta listened happily to the loud _crak-crak-shoom_ as she swung out through the air. Her wings made a hissing sound as the air slipped through the small spaces between her feathers. Dipping her left wing slightly she made a ripple in the air. It shimmered and left a cloudy mark, like a jetstream**1**.

She let out her powerful wings and hissed to a stop. The air was rippling around her, an aura of sky. Celesta grinned when she saw the amazed faces of Marie, Timothy and Lenalee pressed against the windows. Marie had probably only heard the sonic booms she created, but that was amazing in and of itself.

She looped back to the roof, where Lenalee and Timothy now stood. "Wh-what was that?!" Lenalee almost screamed. She could go at incredible speeds herself, but that was weird. Like she had left this dimension entirely.

"Warp-drive." Celesta replied with a cocky smile. "It was fun."

"But how?" Lenalee gasped. "How can you _do_ that?"

Celesta nervously looked to the side. She hadn't yet told anyone about her ability to open the crossroads… "I used the energies of the air. You know, the ones that you make compasses by?" It was close enough. Magnetic energies and spirit energies were a lot alike. "I'm not sure exactly how it happens."

That seemed to be enough for Lenalee. Timothy was more into begging her to take him with her on a joyride. She continually said no. Obviously.

Marie took a little more convincing. He could tell she was leaving something out. Celesta could sense this and knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this secret for long. Also, she'd need to use her powers at some point. But until it was dire, she'd rather figure out the details on her own and not get anyone else messed up in her tangled web.

_Hm... I wonder what else I can do? This whole thing reminds me greatly of the Greek god Hermes__**2**__. I should probably reread that story._

Celesta was found later in her regular hideout: the library. She knew that if people wanted to find her she was pretty obvious (she had a corner she always roamed back to), so it wasn't a huge surprise that Lenalee came around to give her a message from her brother.

"We have a mission. Can you be ready in ten minutes?" the Chinese exorcist asked. Celesta nodded, and picked up her book. She still needed to pick the story apart, considering all she had figured out was the crossroads part and flying thing.

_-*-_

Celesta, Lenalee, Allen, and Chaoji (sigh) were headed toward a port (on a train, sigh) so they could make their way to America (Skelling, no less). Lenalee and Allen were still freaked out how Celesta had known exactly what was going on and where when Komui had said "I'm sending you to America".

Before they had left the building, Celesta was nearly run over by Johnny (looking for her) who was carrying a rather large box. Both landed awkwardly on the ground, and Celesta tried to shove the young scientist off her arm before it broke. She had recently noticed she was lighter than the average nineteen year old, and while her bones were strong, where obnoxiously light, probably hollow. "Where are you going in such a hur-"

"Here!" He thrust the box into her hands. "Your old uniform got lost," Celesta grimaced as she thought of it lying under a pile of snow, "so here's a new one!" He then scurried off back in the direction of the science lab, with a quick wave to Lenalee.

"We can wait." Lenalee said simply at Celesta's distress. She nodded and ran off in the direction of her room. Once there, she pulled off her boots and looked at the ruined soles sadly. She hadn't been easy on her feet on most of her landings. The new black and red ones looked more durable, but she'd still have to watch herself. The coat was what really got her. There was a hood (like on her other coat) and long slits up the back. She rolled her eyes at the sight, but was glad of the cleanly cut holes, as opposed to crudely ripped holes when she invocated her Innocence.

She leapt down the last eight stairs (she landed awkwardly on her ankle, but it wasn't hurt) and brushed past the other three exorcists with a "Let's go". Lenalee stifled a laugh. Allen and Chaoji both just stared.

"Uh, Celesta, you know you have," Allen began, before Celesta cut him off. "Yes, yes, I know there are long slits down my jacket. They were put there on purpose. Now let's _go_, moyashi."

The foursome made their way to the train station. There was a long, long trip ahead of them. The whole time, Chaoji was glaring at the back of head as she looked out the window. She was fiercely ignoring him, trying to repress the feral growl in her throat as he went on, and on, and on… He was not a likeable person. Lenalee and Allen were talking quietly amongst themselves, hoping Celesta wouldn't have a Kanda Massacre when there was no Kanda in the area.

_-*-_

Celesta wasn't surprised when the children she was traveling with were freaking out over the heat. Skelling was crazy hot. There were also no natural bodies of water that close, so they were basically in Middle of Freaking Nowhere, America, with nothing to drink but cactus juice (not recommended, as Celesta had told her companions).

Allen watched Celesta's odd behavior. She wasn't as pleased about being in her hometown as he had thought she might be. _Doesn't she have friends here? I thought she'd be happy to see them, see something familiar._

As they got closer to the township, the group noticed how… dead it looked. No-one moved, nothing stirred. Celesta's face fell as she took it in. "There's a funeral." She said softly.

"Do you think we should go check it out?" Chaoji asked. He was excited to be going on his first mission and was practically bouncing. But did it have to be somewhere so arid? "No," the black-haired teen replied simply. "We should take advantage of the silence and get a move on, look over the town. Skelling doesn't take kindly to outsiders; especially not exorcists."

"Why?" Lenalee asked.

"Because no matter how often they come, something still escapes. Finally, about three years ago, no-one came to Skelling. We were given up on. This place is almost as bad as Edo."

None of Celesta's companions couldn't imagine anywhere worse than Edo. It was awful. The shadowy exorcist popped her hood up and began to go at slightly fast pace into the intricate maze of alleyways. "Stick close," she said over her shoulder.

Lenalee turned to Allen. "I don't think it was smart of my brother to send her on this mission. She doesn't seem…" she fished for a word.

"Thrilled?" Lenalee nodded her thanks. "Yeah. Actually, she seems pretty sad. It's like she just wants it to be over with quickly."

"You'd think we were shoving bamboo splinters under her nails," Chaoji scoffed, and Lenalee shoved him, speeding up to catch up with Celesta. Allen slowed down when he saw something glimmering ahead. It had a human-like shape, but there was something odd about it. It shot off like a bullet and disappeared near where Celesta was. There was a loud _crack_ that rang through the town. Celesta sped up and turned too quickly for Allen and Chaoji (who weren't paying attention) to see where the two girls went, and thus becoming very lost.

_-*-_

Celesta had broken into a run when the second _crack_ sounded. "Wait up!" Lenalee shouted. She was having a hard time catching up to the long-legged girl, who seemed pretty unaffected by the heat. (A/N: which wasn't true, Celesta was practically dying).

Lenalee stopped dead in her tracks suddenly. There was a herd of probably ten, fifteen giant Akuma all moving at a relatively fast past across the expanse of desert. "Oh, my god…" she whispered. Celesta had already activated her Innocence. Lenalee followed her example, and soon both girls were charging the group. "Celesta! Where're Chaoji and Allen?!" Celesta paused and looked around. "I see them," she said, and yelled loudly. Both boys looked up and took off (Chaoji a little slower).

Lenalee had smashed one's head in, but it was still moving, erratically, granted. Another three turned slowly to the east. Celesta's eyes widened and she gave a final slash to the one Lenalee had crushed. Her bronze hues narrowed, she shot in front of the giant Akuma. Her house was still standing, thought a wall had been blown in and the windows were broken, it was still her house. Her home, the place of her happiest childhood memories.

"Stop," she commanded, her voice steely. "Don't. Destroy. My. Home." The Akuma paid almost no attention. Her mind raced, full of fury. With a growl bursting from her throat, she felt her Innocence change, taking over her mind, helping her fight.

_State the name__._ The eerie voice spoke to her. She closed her eyes and felt something stir inside her. With a killer intent written across every line of her face she prepared to battle.

_Hermes Revival: Herdsman's whip!_ A bull whip made of the same material as her wings was in her hands. She flicked her wrist and the whip came down on one of the Akuma, hard. The resonating sound blew up two mores' heads. Lenalee gaped with amazement. This was better than anything she could've dished out. With all four exorcists working together, the horde was soon lying in smashed rubble.

_You're doing well. We may actually be able to do something important._

_Not you too. _Celesta sighed. Her head was a crowded place. She vaguely heard Lenalee land next to her and Allen walking over. A lowly tuned pain shot behind her eyes when he came over. There was something dark she hadn't picked up on before; how? How couldn't she have seen, or sensed, this? The darkness loomed around him, causing his "light" behind her eyes to fade out, become hazy.

"What _was_ that?" Lenalee gasped. Celesta turned, mentally slapping herself for doing a fish-impression. She shrugged simply and walked a little way off from the group closing in on her. "Uh, Celesta? What is it?"

The taller girl sighed softly. "I don't know. There are so many memories surrounding this place, for me, anyway. This is the house I grew up in." she motioned vaguely to the crumbling house. The Joshua tree, _her_ Joshua tree, still stood outside of it, somewhat broken, but mending well. "I guess it's not very good-looking now, but…" she shook her head, her lengthening, unruly, black hair getting in front of her eyes. "You know, we should probably find someplace to stay. Desert storms are nothing to trifle with." She smiled. "I think I know someone who can help us."

_-*-_

So there you have it! The first chapter in Skelling! There will be at least one more, and it will be more revealing of Celesta's past! Ne, thanks again to reviewers! I love you guys so much –gives out giant cookies-!

For any other artists (like this Gothic romantic~), I'd love to see any fanart, if you care that much. If not, ah, whatever. I'm so humbled you read this story. And, as always, please, if not too much trouble, review!


	19. Trapped Below

A/N: Ah! Chapter nineteen! Ahhh! (cowers in fear of the monster that was once her baby Black Lace.) Ne, I hope you like! X3. This chapter's theme song is "New Underground" by Guster.

_-*-_

The four exorcists picked their way through the desert sand. They were just outside of the city limits, but Celesta told them it wasn't too far away. She had gained her old spark that had abandoned her when they pulled into the station.

"I wonder where we're going…" Allen muttered as he tripped over another stick, partially hidden by the hot desert sand. "I hope it's close."

"I hope it's safe," Lenalee replied. "This entire place is like a mine waiting to blow!"

"This way!" Celesta pointed toward a sad-looking shack. "Come on, hurry up! There's a storm blowing in." she motioned over her shoulder to the line of clouds and the curtain of blue shadow below it. "We need to get inside before it hits."

The other three hurried up, only slightly. This apparently annoyed our friend, and she let out a groan. "It's not that bad out here!"

"That's what she says," Allen muttered. They got closer to the seemingly deserted shack. "Hey, does anyone even live here?"

"Yes," Celesta snorted. "He just likes his horses better." She turned the corner and the foursome walked over to the larger wooden barn. An aging Mexican man was standing in there, grooming a pretty bay pinto mare. His white hair was tied back in a ponytail, a stark contrast to his deeply tanned skin and ebony eyes. "Delgado," she called to the man. The pinto mare pricked her ears and whickered, tossing her brown and white head.

The older man turned slightly, his thin frame mirroring his namesake. "Oh, Coyote. You're back." His smile was blinding as he set down the brush. She pulled back her hood, her complexion looking paler than usual in comparison to Delgado's deep tanned one. "You made friends at the Dark Ministry, then?" he held out a wrinkled hand to the exorcists. "Delgado Treani is the name I adopted before I met Celesta."

Lenalee shook his hand, but eyed Allen as if to say "What does he mean, 'before he met her'?" he shook his head. "I'm Lenalee Lee." She motioned to Chaoji. "Chaoji Han, and Allen Walker." Delgado stiffened slightly.

"Pleasure. These flashy ladies are Esperanza and Mariposa." He motioned to the bay pinto and a black appaloosa standing in a stall. "I assume you haven't told them the entirety of your story?" Celesta shook her head. "Thought so. Even when surrounded by friends, the Coyote stays hidden. Then we have much to talk about." He told the exorcists. "Sit down, we'll be in here a while."

Celesta had made herself scarce by taking over the grooming of Esperanza. "Let's start where I came in, where I know it starts…"

Celesta listened to her own memories as the low voice of Delgado as he recounted his version of the tale. She chuckled very softly. She had come a long way from where she was, eight years ago…

_-*-_

**Flashback**

The pale, long-legged girl hoisted herself up the sandstone formation. She was having trouble, and kept slipping and scraping her hands. Her hands were bleeding slightly, but burned more than anything. The rock was hot beneath the desert sun. But she was determined more than anything; she had never really respected her father, who had left after she was born, because of something he refused to tell anyone, not even her mother, but she listened to that one piece of advice Adrian passed on to her from him, to never give up. Still, according to Adrian, their mother had never been the same woman after her Musician had left.

_Adrian_… she thought sadly. It had been over a year of being an unwanted orphan, an outcast, who no-one cared about. She wasn't wallowing in self-pity, but it hurt. It hurt that the others were too afraid to let a lonely girl into their midst.

The eleven-year-old shoved herself upwards and clambered onto the top of the rock, a new fury and determination in her bronze eyes.

"Oi, Coyote…" the eleven year old lost her balance and almost fell off the rock. She caught herself, just in time, but cut her palms again in the process. Whipping her head around wildly, she saw a Mexican man on a pinto horse. She narrowed her bronze eyes and snorted, then went back to her original quest, and began to climb again. "Coyote, you need any help?"

"No." she snorted. "And don't call me 'coyote'."

"I've heard of you, Coyote," he went on. "The townsfolk don't like you, the Walker baby."

"Tell me something I don't know." She paused. "Why do you call me 'coyote'?"

"Because you're all alone, like the coyote. But you don't mind it. The coyote doesn't don't know why, but they need that feeling of freedom. You can strip them of everything they have, but you can't take away the sky. They're simply spirits of what is and what could be. So, I call you Coyote." He paused. "But Coyotes need homes too. You're only a pup now, Coyote. We're both lonely souls, outcasts, as we may be called, or phantoms, so why don't two Coyotes band together and watch each other's backs?"

Her eyes opened huge, and her mouth opened with a soft pop. "Really?" she gasped. He smiled kindly, his moustache turning up with his smile and eyes. She grinned and clambered down the rock. He lifted her into the saddle behind him.

"So you got a name?" he asked. At her silence, he continued. "I'll tell you mine first. I'm an orphaned coyote like you, an outcast and unwanted by my people, so I gave myself a name: Delgado Treani."

The girl thought hard. She didn't want to go by her birth name, Celesta Marie Walker, like her lying, cheating father, but she didn't want to abandon it completely. "Celesta Mae," she said. "Treani, if it's okay with you."

Delgado chuckled and kicked his horse up to a trot. "Guess we've got us a daughter, eh, Esperanza?" the horse whinnied as if laughing. Celesta joined in, free of her loneliness.

_Don't stop believing, never give up, always love the person you're destined to become._ She repeated this phrase in her mind, like she had for this entire past year. But this time, it resonated in her mind.

_-*-_

Allen's mind had blown up (A/N: HA!) when he heard the part about her birth name being "Walker". Lenalee had sensed this, and Celesta was silent as she led Mariposa to the ties. Delgado seemed to be waiting for his Coyote to say something, in defense or in denial, or… really anything.

"So there you have it." Was all the lanky teen said, matter-of-factly. "It's not anything weird, really. No, wait it is weird, but it's like… I don't get any cool powers from _that_ side of the family, or anything else. It's simply complicated. Good enough for you?"

"Allen, you look like you're going to throw up." Lenalee said, before Chaoji yelled over her "I knew it! I knew something was wrong with you!"

Celesta simply stared him down. "There's nothing _wrong_ with me, other than living a complex life. But it's not a bad one, and I don't have any regrets about anything I've done. So just lay off, you idiot, and let me live, for god's sake."

Chaoji was taken aback and sat down, but still managed to give her a half-hearted glare and mutter something that sounded half-heartedly nasty. Allen stood up suddenly and walked outside into the pouring rain. No-one stopped him. Celesta picked up a brush and silently began to groom Mariposa. Lenalee sighed and stood up, walking over to where the other girl stood, and began fiddling with the horse's blue-black mane. Chaoji just sat like a bump on a log. Delgado was cleaning a saddle, his old joints occasionally popping when he pressed too hard.

"Delgado, let me," Celesta said, trading the heavy leather saddle and holey rag for her brush. He nodded his thanks, and got up to work on Mariposa's neck. The black appaloosa had her head in the air, sensing tension. She gave a soft whicker of confusion. "Hush," Delgado said soothingly. The mare put her head down slightly and snorted. Outside, the rain poured down on Allen, making his shirt stick to him and his white hair stick to his forehead. After a while, he wasn't sure if it was just the rain, or if he was really crying. Everything was just confusing.

_-*-_

The next morning, the rain had let up and the foursome was back on talking ground. Celesta waved to Delgado as they made their way back to the town.

"Alright, we've still got to find the Innocence." Lenalee said. Plans made her feel better. "So, where should we start?"

As soon as she said this, the ground gave way beneath the Exorcist's feet. They fell down into a cavern and, with yelps of surprise, landed in a awkward heap. Celesta groaned and shoved Chaoji off her back. "Get _off_ me!" she growled furiously. Her light bones were straining under the pressure, and she could almost feel a crack forming along her radius. "See why desert storms are so dangerous?" she asked. There was a chorus of groans and mutterings.

"Where do you think we are?" Allen asked.

"Probably in one of the many intricate workings of tunnels beneath the city. We're all pretty sure it was once used by earlier settlers to escape Akuma, before the town was built." She sighed. "It's miles and miles of latticework. We should probably try to find an exit, uhm, now."

Celesta's face had paled and she could hear her blood rushing in her ears. She had been trapped down here once, and had barely managed to escape if it hadn't been for a really, _really _lucky break. It had been maybe a half-year after she had met Delgado, although neither called the other by their adopted names. He called her Coyote and she called him Senor. When she clawed her way out of the premature burial was probably the first time he had ever called her "Celesta".

_Do I remember this place well enough to get out?_ She wondered. _I think… a left first, into the cavern and then up the ledge… or do we go straight?_ She shuddered at the thought of her and her friends, trapped and unable to find the exit, a storm rolling in…

_Don't think about it! I have to keep focused._ Celesta looked around and heard a scrabbling sound. A pair of yellow-gold eyes stared out from the shadows at her. She took a step closer, prepared for anything: the good, the bad, or the ugly. The body belonging to the eyes stepped out of the shadows, revealing itself as a coyote. Her eyes widened in surprise at the animal whose name she had once gone by. It twitched its tail and turned toward a tunnel.

"Guys! Over here! I think we may have a guide." The other three exorcists came back to her, as opposed to looking around like they had been before. Chaoji was slower and as always was nursing a grudge. A stupid, futile, immature, and never-bearing-fruit grudge.

"Um, Celesta?" Lenalee said, eying the coyote. "Just because…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The older girl rolled her bronze eyes. "I think it's a karmic loop. You know, the 'history repeats itself' thing? I was stuck down here once. This coyote is going to show us the way." _Probably the way I went_, she added silently.

The coyote yipped in reply and began to climb up a tunnel. Celesta followed, with Lenalee right behind her, followed by Allen and finally Chaoji who complained to no avail before Allen simply kicked him and told him to hurry it up.

The tunnels were dark and musky, but cool. It was a nice change from the heat, so Allen thought. Unfortunately you couldn't see two feet in front of you in these hidden mole-holes, so the exorcists relied on their hearing. Celesta kept one hand on the coyote's tail, feeling the desert-dog choose a direction before it turned. The tan-and-russet animal nosed an opening and dropped down almost onto its belly. "Right, and duck down. It'll be a tight squeeze," Celesta called back to her comrades. The others followed her into the tight wormhole, hoping it would open up again.

Just as it did, they heard the beginnings of rain above them. Celesta's bronze eyes widened in surprise, fearful of what may happen if they were trapped below ground. A vision that wasn't her own flashed behind her eyes, and she felt the familiar ache of a spirit. She closed her eyes, letting the desert-dog guide her as she watched the spirit's memory.

"A river," she murmured. "There's a river that lead to the outside… it floods when there're storms…" her eyes snapped open to the coyote, who suddenly stopped and whimpered. She nudged it forward so she could see what had spooked it.

A dark underground river was raging, far faster than she had anticipated. "What's going on?" Lenalee asked, pushing forward. Her eyes widened and she gasped when she saw nature's true fury pounding on the sandstone basin.

"The river leads to the outside," Celesta said once everyone had crawled out of the tunnel. "But it's too dangerous to swim it. Any ideas?" No-one said a thing. She tried to think of something. She saw a crack that was large enough to crawl through in the ceiling of the cavern, but was too high up to get to without flying. _But oh yeah, I can't get aloft in such a small place. I've got to think…_

"I bet, if I got some help, I could kick a hole through the ceiling and we could climb the rubble." Lenalee said, activating her Dark Boots. Celesta grinned. "Not half-bad," she said.

The Chinese exorcist shot upward, and, with an earsplitting boom, the cavern's ceiling dropped. It had worked pretty well, even though the steps to the top were slick with rain and the gaps were large. The foursome finally climbed, panting, out into the desert rain. The coyote followed them, shaking out its ruff.

Celesta leaned down to put her hand softly on its shoulder. "Thanks," she said. "For helping us."

Its yellow eyes narrowed slightly, and she could've sworn it grinned at her, almost saying "You already knew how to get out." She smiled back. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't change a thing." With that, the desert-colored dog turned on its back paws and disappeared, leaving behind a slightly glowing crystal. Celesta chuckled to herself before going back to her friends. "I think we can go home now!" she called, waving them over and handing Lenalee the Innocence fragment.

_-*-_

The train whistled as the four exorcists ran up to the station. Allen and Lenalee deftly leapt onto the back, followed by Chaoji who needed to be dragged up. Celesta spared a parting glance and waving to Delgado before springing with a grace she hadn't known she'd possessed onto the fast-moving train. They didn't go inside, choosing instead to ride like vagabonds on the back. Celesta smiled as she watched her hometown disappear behind her.

_God, I wish Melody and Elizabeth could be here._ She thought, somewhat sadly. Her two best friends had parted with her before she left, and she doubted seeing them again. After all, not many Skelling-ers liked the Black Order.

"Hey, Celesta, do you want to head in?" Lenalee asked. The boys had ducked inside a few minutes ago.

The black-haired teen smiled. "Sure." _See you at the bottom of the hill,_ she thought towards her town, and the inhabitants. _Not like you can miss it._

_-*-_

A/N: I didn't like the ending very much. I wanted to add something more, but I just didn't. Sorry. Anyway, I hope I didn't piss anyone off. That'll probably be the last of any of Celesta's family history, so you don't need to worry about growing-up-lonely angst. I hate that stuff.

**Finally, I'm working on a video for all of you dedicated readers to honor the 20th chapter. If you have a DeviantART, or something like it, please tell me if you've done any art. I like that kind of thing. If you haven't, it's not like I expect you to or anything. It's so humbling you even read this. But I'd like other people's art or ideas in the video too. Thank you very much, and I guess look forward to the twentieth chapter of Black Lace.**

Celesta's note: No kidding, right? Huge thanks, and best wishes! -your flying friend, Celesta Mae


	20. Styx

A/N: Don't own nothin'. That's all I got. This chapter's theme song is "Death And All His Friends" by Coldplay.

_-*-_

**Time jump, January to March.**

Thanks for bearing.

_-*-_

The rain poured down on Celesta's back as she stretched her arms wide out. A small smile was on her face as she let the rain soak into her pores, drenching her raven hair ebony. She had ditched her coat earlier so it lay just inside the window so it wouldn't get wet, and had just her button-down white long-sleeved blouse on, and the wet fabric clung to her pale form. She hoped fervently no-one would come up in the storm. She was just so, so, so happy spring had broken through the deep grey cloud of winter.

She brushed some hair out of her eyes and heard a soft chuckle behind her. She dropped her arms and turned her head slowly to the right. She pulled on her jacket before turning to the figure by the door.

"Why're you out here?" she asked, still smiling slightly at her favorite red-headed exorcist. He smiled back, that funny little crooked smile he only did for her.

"I knew you would either be in the library or out here, and because you weren't in the library, you would, obviously, be out here." he said and winked. "Although, I bet I could show you some secret places people wouldn't think to look."

"You make that sound like we're keeping evil secrets."

His smile dropped, and he sadly looked down. "I hate how it feels that way, sometimes."

She put her wet hand under his chin and brought his face up to hers. "I don't give a shit, frankly." His emerald eye lit up again and he held her wrist gently. "Why don't you come back inside?" he asked.

"Because." She smiled and then ironically climbed back inside, pulling at her jacket's collar. The slits down the back fluttered as she straightened the cuffs around her wrists. He smiled at her as she slicked her rain-wet hair back, even though she knew it was just fall in front of her eyes again. It had lengthened out from the tight bob it was in when she first joined the order. It was about his length, but more flat and looked more like raven's feathers than hair. He liked that, the way it reflected her. She caught him staring and narrowed her partially-hidden eyes. "What?"

He laughed softly and put his hands up in denial. "Just thinking."

"Yeah, sure." She smirked and walked past him. She still smelled like the early spring rain.

_-*-_

Celesta sighed unhappily. She was a mission originally just with Allen, or so Komui had said before the Inspector walked in, so Link was coming along for the ride. They _would_ be going to Tibet, wouldn't they? It would take at least a week to get there from London. At least a week of traveling with _the blonde lapdog_. Sigh. Her day just got… six shades worse.

"I've heard some insane stuff, but a moving mountain?" she said with an eye roll. The train jolted away from the station and she almost fell off her seat with surprise. Allen hid a smile behind his gloved hand.

"Either that, or it's a floating city." He said, and she gave him a look. "I'm just saying what I heard!" Celesta's turn to snicker. "So what do you think it is?"

She shrugged in reply, her black hair sliding off her shoulder. "They both sound completely insane. There is no way this will be easily figured out, huh?" the younger boy shook his head. "That's what I thought." Celesta shrugged into a corner and began to read. She hadn't even looked at what she grabbed. It seemed like some kind of murder-mystery. Allen sighed softly before going over the mission plan again.

_-*-_

"Nuh-uh. No. Not me. Uh-uh, I'm flying. Not getting on some river ferry." Celesta firmly planted her feet, even though she knew, if push came to shove, she was light enough (stupid hollow bones) to the point that the two men could easily pick her up. Well, not if she fought. She almost smiled, glad of her plan.

"Come on, they're going to leave!" Allen begged, holding onto the hem of her sleeve like a little boy. "And we won't know where you are if you need help or something goes wrong."

"I can't swim, eejit." She scoffed and tossed her raven-feather hair out of her eyes, only to have long strands fall back in front of her vision. "There will be much panicking if I am put on that dinky little log of death."

Allen gave a soft sigh as he realized he was fighting a losing battle. He dropped his hand is resignation. Celesta smirked happily. _Hermes Revival- Wings of the Muses_. The crystalline wings took shape immediately. With an almost inaudible chime, she was airborne.

She knew she'd get hell from the lapdog when she finally came back down, but for now she fell into the familiar rhythm of flying low to the ground. The air that came off the river was warmer than she had anticipated. With a smile she thought of taking up piano again, or follow her dream of fiddling, so she could capture flight in music. Yes, a violin would be perfect. She hummed a few bars to herself and laughed putting her arms out as she led the boat along. With little thought, she lurched upward and looped through the air… almost brushing the boat's side with her boots.

"Agh!" Link ducked as Allen flailed wildly before falling over. She giggled and waved.

"Sorry, boys!" she called, and the Finder rowing the boat laughed at her antics as she shot forward again. Fish gleamed below her as the water rippled in her wake. _How fun would it be to warp right now, I wonder? That would really get me grounded, but…_

The air rippled around her and Celesta took off for a good half-mile before she felt a sharp pain behind her eyes and dropped, straight into the water. She almost gasped until she remembered _oh yeah, water plus lungs equals bad._ She used her wings to push herself upward and broke the surface. She didn't stop until she was at least a hundred feet away from the surface. The pain behind her eyes hadn't faded yet, and neither had the images below her, in the water.

She shivered as the silvery images of those had lost their lives to the water floated beneath her. Some just flowed along, as if they knew no matter what they tried they wouldn't escape. Some still flailed and thrashed until the water engulfed them again. They then went further upstream and began their deathly dance all over.

_Oh, god, oh, god, please no, oh, god, god no, please, no…_ her mind had blown a fuse as she watched them. Finally the boat caught up to her and the spirits tried to grab the oars pushing the boat, unbeknownst to the three inside of it. Celesta was glad that she wasn't in the boat. It would be unbearable. With a choke she looped forward an ignored the spirits trapped under her.

_Like the river Styx that leads to Tartarus… how completely typical that it would resemble that, when Hermes led the souls to the river Styx._ She snorted and kept her path straight, no fun curves or acting up. Tibet was probably still six days away…

She sighed, a deep sound resounding in her chest as she edged higher up away from the darkest waters. She was dimly aware of Link chewing her out, but that wasn't important to her. She had better things to be worrying about.

Like dying, for instance. That was definitely a downside to being an exorcist. That, and of course, the fact that parasite-types lived shorter than other Innocence users. She had asked Hevlaska about a fortnight ago about the feeling that she never really deactivated her Innocence. Hevlaska had replied that it could be the weight of using this divine substance and that there was the possibility that the wings may take a solid form soon.

That would mean her already short life would be ending soon. She had decided to keep this information strictly confidential, so as not to worry the others. Especially not Lavi.

With another heavy sigh, she allowed the wind to carry her and stopped flapping her long crystalline wings. Her silence made Link forget about chewing her out, considering it was to no avail. The avian closed her eyes and flowed in the river that was the air. She was a leaf, being forced about by the ever-changing current, never stopping, staying in motion no matter what the price may be.

_I guess it must run in the blood._ She snorted. She hated to admit how much alike she and her father were, and thus making her more like Allen than she would ever admit. After all, there wasn't much she could do about her birthright, but she could keep her mouth shut. She was very, very good at that. She had kept silent about everything that had happened during her little "excursion" to Japan. No need to worry anyone.

Although, she always seemed to. One more thing to add to her list of likeness to Allen. Sigh.

Her wings were smoothed down by the wind as she glided out toward her destination. Her eyes were closed as she gently swayed in the breeze, riding a cool wind headed east. The foliage was changing slightly as they continued onward, in silence. The river rushed loudly, often calling her attention back to the spirits "swimming" in it.

Celesta let her mind drift, thinking back on days when her life was lighter, when she wasn't fighting for her life on a regular basis.

_-*-_

**Flashback… (despite my earlier voicing.)**

"Delgado," the lanky girl had recently turned fifteen, and had been more restless than usual. He wondered exactly what she wanted to talk about now.

"Yes, Coyote?" the aging Mexican man pushed a few loose strands of silver hair out of his ebony eyes. His friend (as they called each other, even though it was deeper than that, but not quite deep enough to call adoptive in any way) was leaning on a beam that held the barn's roof up. She had an almost-passive look on her face, the kind that said she wasn't sure if she didn't really care or if she was kidding herself. "What do you need?"

"Uhm, actually, I…" she looked away briefly and gave herself a mental pep talk. She turned her brilliant bronze gaze to him. "I want to go to the border, or closer, I mean, and see the Dia de los Muertos celebration. It sounds fantastic." Her eyes glowed happily as she thought of the giant skeleton puppets and the kites waving through the hot night air… amazing. Maybe, in the dark, with masks, people wouldn't gaze at her with loathing, disdain and pity, as they did in the daylight. "I really, really want to see it, at least once."

Delgado was surprised by this request. "Alright, Coyote. I suppose. I'll come with you. I haven't gone since I met you, my friend."

Celesta had donned a mask Delgado's sister used to wear at the Dia de los Muertos festivals. It appeared to be made of bone, and had black across the nose and over the eyes, making it appear as if she had no eyes. Around the blacked-out eye holes, here was a lime green line and then deep blood red triangles surrounding that. The mouth part was painted like bone, and she wore a black shirt with a black-and-red skirt that flowed when she danced.

Delgado wore his more or less normal attire with a bone mask like a buffalo's skull. Celesta smiled as she watched the parade go past. The Day of the Dead… the one day when no-one looked at her like she didn't belong.

She chuckled at the irony that her life was now a waking, everyday Dia de los Muertos. _Funny how it turns out, huh?_ She thought bitterly. _Ho-hum, three-six-nine, the goose drank wine the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line the line broke the monkey got choked and they all went to heaven in a little rowboat…_

Celesta had dozed off and she slapped herself into consciousness before she fell back into the depths of death. _I know I've heard that rhyme someplace before. Where? _Her brow crinkled as she concentrated. _Some kids, that's where. Back in Skelling. A bunch of little kids singing that stupid rhyme and I told them to cut it out because they had no idea. They had no idea…_

_I didn't either, really. I just took offense, I guess. Why?_

_Let's think on that, shall we?_

She rolled her eyes before rolling off on the winds and swinging out towards the tree tops. The sun was slowly setting across the mountains. There appeared to be a town coming up on the left.

"There's a town, due west. Do we want to stop?" she called down to the non-flying members of this crew.

"Yes, please!" Allen muttered. He doubted Link would let them, though. He puppy-dog stared at Link's impassive head and waited for an answer, pleading silently for a "yes".

"I don't want to stop and slow the mission, but I suppose some members of this party could use food." He glared at his watchee. Allen smiled apologetically, but it was hard to keep his excitement down. They were stopping for food and sleep! Score!

Celesta pointed her wing tips toward the west and lighted on the bank the boat was making port in. She jokingly ruffled Allen's hair, making comments about the "bottomless pit". He half-heartedly told her to stop it. The taller girl laughed and trotted off ahead.

_-*-_

"_Three-six-nine, the goose drank wine the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line the line broke the monkey got choked and they all went to heaven in a little rowboat…"_ Celesta sang softly to herself as she patrolled the city streets. She highly doubted there would be anything, but it gave her the chance to think and sing to herself. She had always liked to sing.

She hummed the first few bars of "Waltzing Matilda" before stopping to shake her head. "I know some bizarre songs." She continued onward, now singing slightly louder.

"_Up jumped the swagman, right into the billabong "you'll never catch me alive", said he and his ghost may be heard as you pass by the billabong "you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me…"_

"_Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me,"_ a young boy, probably fourteen was singing back to her from the doorstep of a store, where he sat with a violin.

She smiled and replied by finishing the song with him: "_…and his ghost may be heard as you pass by the billabong "you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me."_

The black-haired girl walked over to him, still smiling like she had found an old friend. "I didn't know you knew this song, too." He nodded, some of his over-long mousy hair falling in his eyes. "It must be gaining popularity."

"Not really." He shook his head. "I just know it 'coz people like to hear it on a violin. It sounds like a ghost."

_I beg to differ_, she bit her tongue before she blurted. "Can I hear?" he put the violin up to his chin and drew the bow across the strings gently, slowing when he got to the last "you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me".

"Wow…" Celesta breathed. He smiled. "I've always wanted to learn the violin, considering I suck at piano."

"You have a pretty voice," the boy said genuinely. "If it's any consolation."

"Thanks." She smiled, and then sighed. "Not like I have any time to do anything with it."

He shrugged. "Guess not. The Dark Ministry seems pretty… tight-scheduled." He nodded toward her lapel, where the rose cross sat, forever labeling her. She laughed, and, god, did it feel good. "Yeah, you don't know the half of it." She replied, trying to get her giggles under control.

He smiled. "I sometimes wonder if it'd be better there. It's not easy for orphans far away from home." his eyes held the wisdom of someone years older than himself.

"I know. How long have you been stuck on the streets, uhm..?" she silently begged a name.

"Simon. Two years, come August."

"Wow. Same here. Where are you from?" he paused. She shrugged. "I'm from America. Arizona, by the border."

"Birmingham." He said. She nodded, even though she had only been there through passing on a train. "Have you been?"

"Not really."

"It must still be okay, then, if exorcists haven't been focusing on it."

"Well, I'm more of a loner. Year of living alone, you know. Tend to trust only yourself."

"You're putting an awful lot of faith in me, then, aren't you?"

"Yeah, actually, Simon."

"And I guess you don't trust me, coz I haven't gotten your name."

"'S not even my real name. It's just a name I took when I got taken in off the streets."

"Simon's just a name I took coz I was abandoned at birth. Got bad legs, y'see. Can't barely walk. Wouldn't be any good for army or farm work. Best suited for songs and rhymes, as the others put it before I left the orphanage."

"Ah, then, I suppose it's a fair trade, huh?" he nodded. "Then I'm Celesta." She stuck out her hand. "Please to meet you."

"What happened to your parents?"

"My father abandoned me and my brother and mother when I was born. I wasn't good enough, I suppose, or something. Then when I was nine they got blown up by Akuma."

"And you were taken by the Black Order?"

"No, then I was stuck in the middle of the desert until I was eleven when an old loner took me in. Delgado Treani. And then I found out why I wasn't killed by the Akuma as well, and it was because I had an Innocence inside of me."

"And then I suppose you went?"

"Yeah, then. And then there were some complex issues and a big adventure in which I turned my back on the Order and yadda yadda yadda. And then I'm here, and the story has caught up to us."

"I guess it has."

"So, see anything odd around here, Simon?"

"Well, there was a bearded lady, but it turned out to be a cross-dresser. Odd enough?"

"Wish I'd seen it, but not what I meant. Was it good?"

"Brilliant." Simon grinned at her. "You're pretty cool, for a grown-up."

"Thanks, kid." She replied. "Anyway, I'll be going. My charge will be pissed if I'm not back soon. See you, maybe."

"Wait!" he got up quickly and stumbled. He stepped out towards her, one ankle dragging slightly. "I… can I come back with you? Please? Is there anything I could do for the Order? Anything at all?"

She switched her weight back and forth, not sure what to do. "I'm not sure, Simon. Maybe?"

"Please! Think of something!" his eyes pleaded with her. "I want to get out of here so badly!"

_Yeah, I'm dead for this._ "Alright, come on." She smiled genuinely. "I bet we can find something, if you're the kind of person who's fine with facing imminent death."

He looked surprised for a moment. Then, he took off after her, his grin blinding. "I'll be the best whatever there ever was!"

Now, if only the blonde lapdog agreed.

_-*-_

A/N: Okay, I stopped holding this off for my dear fans. The video is currently a work in progress. So that will be longer in making, sorry. It's been annoying. My computer hates me sometimes. And I love being a procrastinator! So, still, I could totally use some art from people! Anything, really, I can use it! You'll get full credit and stuff, and my undying gratitude.

Well, the vid should be up soon. I'll give you fair warning. So sorry I dropped the ball on it. Please review???


	21. Unplanned Author's Note

I'm sorry if you thought this was an actual update. No, I'm sorry, it's not. Please put your guns down. Thank you.

Anyway, I need to know what I should do about Simon. I love him dearly, but I seldom keep my characters around for longer than maybe one story. Right now, I'm tempted to either A) give him an Innocence just so that if I do kill him, I don't feel like his life was purposeless; B) say to hell with it and blow him up by either Road or an Akuma; C) Have the blonde lapdog tell him "go home" and have him sulk off, but stow away in their boat and then get blown up; or D) make him a Finder and keep him around often, have him hone his fighting skills and not die. I'll put up a poll so you can decide what happens to poor sweet Simon.

And Celesta's fate: as I said, I seldom keep my characters alive. I'm tempted to have her walk a darker path if I do keep her around, because I just don't do the "light leading the way but then burns out when they're no longer needed or fulfill their purpose" thing. Sorry if you thought this was one of those stories.

I also never meant to have a page long author's note, but I am seriously confused with myself and Road isn't helping. Thank you.

Anyway, back to Celesta's fate. As I said before, I am tempted to have her walk a somewhat darker path and blah blah blah. I'm also tempted to have her die.

Please hear me out and put down your guns. Thank you again.

She wouldn't just like, bam, drop dead. I want her to die because she tries to save her friends by opening the Crossroads to trap and thus kill several Level 4s, or something like that. Then she'd like explode or something. I doubt I'll do this any time soon, but the story may end with Celesta dying. I'm very sorry, and I wanted to give you fair warning. You don't get to sway me by voting, though, sorry. If I am in a good mood, I'll keep her alive and flying. I might be… but maybe not.

Thank you for listening, and once again I apologize to those of you who thought this was a real update.

_-*-_

P.S. I have recently been dubbed Yu-chan when my friend Momo found out my real Japanese name is Mayuko. She then proceeded to freak out in the middle of science when she figured out she could call me Yu-chan without being killed… over… and over… and over… because I am way too nice to her. It's more novelty than anything else for her, so for her enjoyment I now go by Yu-chan. Until she drives me crazier.

_-*-_

Celesta rant: FUCK IT I DON'T WANNA DIE!

Yu-chan: I never said you would!

Celesta: I've seen your other stories! Why did you kill all of characters?! Even in the horse one! WHY DID FLIGHT HAVE TO DIE, HUH?!

Yu-chan: Because she had to, to get my point across! So stop complaining! And, I think we're both over-tired. Now go away.

Celesta: Don't you DARE kill me or I'll come back and haunt you!

Yu-chan: -sweatdrop-

See you all around, I hope!

Celesta: Keep me alive, and yes you will.

**Please vote on my poll on my profile (well, obviously) so I can hear what you think. Thank you very much!**


	22. Welcome

A/N: I don't own D. Gray-Man. I do own Celesta, I think (Celesta: It's the other way around. Simon: Hi! I'm not dead yet!). This chapter's theme song is "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'N Roses.

_-*-_

Link sat across from the mousy boy, the lanky black-haired girl behind him. Allen shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of something to say to break the terrifying silence. Simon glowered and tried to look fiercely determined. In truth, it was everything he could do to not shake.

"So. Thoughts?" Celesta finally said, breaking the male-testosterone-fueled-stare-down. The blond lapdog sighed and nodded.

"Only this one time." He told the taller being, and behind him Simon grinned and sent a thumbs-up Celesta's direction. "I think there is no use arguing. He'd come with anyways."

"Mm-hm. Got it. 'Night, I'm tired." She spun away and hid a smile. She had the lapdog under her spell, even though she'd never say it was her. Newest talent: she could use compulsion to get anyone to do what she wanted. It wasn't strong though, but nonetheless. She liked her Innocence more and more!

"Hello, I'm Allen Walker," the white-haired teen held out his hand to the other boy.

"Simon," the mousy teen replied, smiling. "So, what should I know about being a Finder?"

"Well, it's not easy, at least that's what I've gathered. And you have to do a lot of odd jobs." Allen answered. "But it seems to me that the people are rather happy with it."

"Okay." He nodded importantly. "I'm guessing there are a lot of formalities to uphold?"

"Most of the Finders do, but there are a few who are grumpy. I think they work with Ba-Kanda."

"Who?" Simon suddenly dreaded this new job. All the names…

"Yu Kanda. He's a really surly and impolite exorcist. He calls me 'moyashi', which means 'bean sprout' in Japanese, his first language, so I call him Ba-Kanda. Oh yeah, 'baka' means 'idiot'. He calls me that a lot too." Allen was confusing Simon. The fourteen year old stowed this information for later sorting. "He has a soft spot for Lenalee, even though he'd never admit to it, because he always listens to her. He wants everyone to think he's the biggest badass out there. Pardon my French."

"Okay, I'm with you so far. One question: who's Lenalee?"

"She's a really sweet exorcist. She's the director's little sister. The director, Komui, is really hard to live with, and he's kind of eccentric. You'll meet him later." His face got all soft as he continued talking about Lenalee. Simon tried not to yack as the older teen got mushy. He blushed as he realized what he was saying and shut up. "Goodnight," he said and shut out the light.

Simon snickered. His job was looking better now. _I'll get the dirt on everyone it sounds like. This will be fun!_

_-*-_

"Boys! Up and at 'em! Now!" Celesta called, knocking loudly on the threesome's door.

Simon moaned softly and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Allen was stirring slightly and waved half-heartedly.

"Don't make me get in there!"

"Treani, for goodness' sake, don't be so immodest!" Link replied, sounding flushed. He seemed the most awake.

"I can beat you up, don't deny it! I got height to my advantage, lapdog!"

"What?!" Allen leapt up freaked out by the "pet name".

"Jesus, Allen, not what I meant. Calm down. Now get up or I'll make sure not to get you any breakfast!"

Simon had never seen anyone get up and ready so fast. A minute tops, and Allen was dressed, fit, and ready to rip.

"Walker, calm down. You're going to hurt yourself." Link said, packing his things while Allen bounced on the balls of his feet.

"But she threatened my breakfast!" he whined. Link sent him a look.

"I think you'll live the ten minutes it takes to let the rest of us get ready."

Simon held back a laugh. "What's the hurry, Mr. Walker?" _That sounds weird._ Simon thought. _I guess I better get used to it. After all, formalities are part of the job. Sigh._

"I have a high metabolism. It's typical of Parasite-type Innocence users, such as myself." Simon fished through his new vocabulary of Black Order lingo to get these words to make sense. He dimly remembered something about Lenalee and Crystal-type and then Celesta and Allen's Parasite-types and something about someone else and someone else and someone who was a guy but had a girl name**1** having Equipment-types.

"Oh," that was all Simon could say. Simon shrugged and he finished putting on the make-shift uniform Link and the other Finder (his name escaped the bewildered child) had scavenged up for him. It was odd, but he'd get used to it, as the other Finder had said. Simon hoped the other Finder wasn't screwing with him.

"Are you ready _yet?_" Allen asked, sounding whiny. His stomach growled to punctuate his comment.

"No, Walker, I am not ready! Sit down and contain yourself." Allen complied without too much grumbling.

After about ten minutes the boys were out. Celesta was staring at the ceiling, her lanky form draped across the wall, making her appear taller than before.

"And you think girls take forever," she muttered. She picked up her knapsack and slung it over her shoulder. "Alright, onward." She pointed in a military like way with two fingers. Link rolled his eyes as they headed out.

They stepped out of the inn and were ambushed by several Akuma.

"You're kidding me right?" Celesta asked and dropped her bag, activating her Innocence. Simon stared at the huge crystalline wings as she shot upward.

_Hermes Revival: Herdsman's Whip!_ The bull whip twisted around her forearm as she rose into the morning air to face off a Level 3. Allen had a couple of 2's ganging up on him, but Celesta was fairly certain he could hold his own.

"What the _hell_?!" Simon gasped as Link gathered the exorcist's belongings and dragged them to a safer hide-out.

"Those are Akuma." Link watched as one of the 2's sent an electric shock flying through the air at Allen, who deftly deflected it with the Crown Clown's cloak. He turned his masked grey eyes to the two hidden and nodded, as if checking to see if they were okay and nothing has hit them.

"But- but I thought they were demons," Simon said weakly. These looked nothing like the devils and goblins in storybooks. "They're machines…"

"Yes, they are." Link replied curtly, his patience wearing thin. "I see Walker skipped over that part. They evolve, so these three have made a lot of killings, seeing as the two Walker are against are Level 2 and the one Treani is playing tag with is a Level 3." He scowled. "She seems to be a fan of theatrics."

"She looks like she's having a hard time!" Simon exclaimed. "How do you know she doesn't need help?"

With an outstanding bang, one of the two Allen was fighting turned into a fireball by his Edge End. The other one, the electric one, lunged and was hit aside by the Clown Belt.

Celesta couldn't get close enough for her wings to do any good, and the whip was only good if she was within striking range, and when she was, the Akuma grabbed the whip with its shielded arm and tugged her aside.

Gritting her teeth, Celesta racked her mind for knowledge of the Greek myths concerning Hermes. _Uh, I know he created the lute, but that's not helpful. Maybe if I were fighting Cerberus or the Minotaur… that's it! Hermes stole Apollo's white bull that fathered the Minotaur. Well, it's a long shot, but worth it:_

Feeling somewhat stupid, she tried the name that popped into her head. _Hermes' Minotaur!_

She fell out of the sky and dropped onto the ground, her wings reforming into a huge white bull with sharp teeth and dangerous-looking jet-black horns.

Its red eyes took her in and appeared to be awaiting a command. She brought the whip through the air, her body acting mostly of its own accord. With a sharp crack, the bull raced forward and charged, its horns scraping the metal torso of the Akuma. She dimly realized Allen had defeated both his opponents.

The bull circled around, snorting and pawing at the ground. Celesta thought about how she wanted the bull to move and brought the whip down again. The white bull stomped and pranced before galloping straight at the Akuma again. The wounded creature barely had time to move before it was gored again by the Innocence ghost.

It shrieked and blew up, and the bull lumbered over to his master, waiting for another command. Celesta knew the regular thing to do would be to deactivate her Innocence and say "bye-bye" to the bull. But it was too intelligent, it seemed, and she wanted to feel that she didn't wield the Innocence, it wielded her. Especially after how her body seemed to move on its own, like her mind was separate and not quite attached.

She gently put her hand on the bull's massive head. It shoved against the touch, seeming pleased to be acknowledged. It snorted again and she smiled. It didn't feel as if this was part of her, instead as more of an outside force. She returned it to her more used form, and deactivated her Innocence from the winged form.

"I'd say Treani's Innocence has evolved again." Link said, deceptively passive. In truth, he was kind of scared of how this would react. Would it be like Lenalee Lee? Or would the Innocence prove itself to be more than it appeared, yet again? How would this young woman fare?

_Hevlaska didn't even create a prophecy for her, and she seems to be more important than we thought. What is she hiding?_

Celesta turned to the boys. "See, had you hurried up, we would have gotten breakfast_ before_ getting our daily dose of life-or-death struggle."

_-*-_

"Uhm, excuse me, Link, sir?" Simon tapped the blonde lapdog on his shoulder. He turned an exasperated gaze on the fourteen year old.

"Yes?"

"Why does Miss Treani," he didn't like how that sounded. It didn't fit her. So he tried again: "Miss Celesta not ride in the boat as well?"

"She puts up a fight. She can't swim."

"Oh." Simon left it at that and turned to the other Finder, a muscular but shortish red-brown haired man of an older age. "Do you want me to row for awhile?"

"If you want to, the practice would do you good." He handed him the oar and took his place on the seat. "I assume you haven't done much boating?"

"No, not really." Simon replied, trying not to seem bored. He was just tired from storing and sorting and filing all this information away. "It's one stroke on the starboard**2** then one on the port**3**, right?"

"Very good. To turn to the right, though, you need to stroke more on the port side, and vice versa."

Simon nodded and got to work, trying to keep a steady pace and not knock anyone on the head with the oar. He kept his eyes on Celesta's shining wings as she sailed along the wind.

Allen was wondering more and more what the real thing in Tibet was. If they had run into Akuma at their last stop, especially when none had been there previously, it must be something really spectacular and important.

"Allen, Akuma, starboard two-fifteen!" Celesta called back, flying backward on the drifts. She went parallel to the boat before peeling away at an almost perpendicular line toward the shore. Allen followed suit, activating his Crown Clown Innocence. Simon tried to steer to shore, having some difficulty but getting the hang of this whole boating and Finder business.

"Have you been keeping a log?" the other Finder asked his new apprentice of sorts. "It's the job of the Finders to do so while the exorcists are frontline."

"I guess so. It's not very good, though," Simon admitted and handed the notebook to his mentor of sorts.

"This isn't too bad. Though I notice you forgot my name." he smiled well naturedly. "It's not a big deal. Just call me Sir. It's what every Finder calls anyone whose name they don't remember. Even other Finders. There are so many of us."

"Oh."

"We'd better go check up on Sir Walker and Miss Celesta." He stood and began walking into the forest they had disappeared into.

"So you call her that too?" Simon asked. Link sat in the docked boat still, making his own notes on the journey and making a transmission back to Headquarters.

"Yes, I think everyone does. 'Miss Treani' doesn't fit her, even though no-one would say that to her face."

"Oh."

"Hey, Simon, over here!" Celesta waved an arm.

"I guess you're not too well-known?" Simon asked. "No offense."

"None taken. I tend to get absorbed in my work and ignore everyone else." He shrugged. "I'm generally an introvert."

As they got closer, Simon noticed it was probably something of a fight. Celesta's cheek had a long cut running up it, and Allen looked a little worse for wear, although nothing was visibly bleeding yet. "Allen, sit down. You got thrown pretty far."

"What happened?" Simon gasped.

"A small group of Level 3s. No big deal, but Allen got blown back about a hundred yards and hit that rock," she pointed to a relatively flat but solid looking boulder, "and narrowly missed getting his head taken off. We missed one of them, and it ran off."

"We should probably head back to the boat, we have medical supplies there." The senior Finder helped Allen to his feet and supported his shoulders as they slowly walked toward the shore.

"Yeah. Hey Allen, don't pass out. That'll be trouble." Celesta shook his shoulder gently. "Here, I'll talk to you. Focus, bean sprout!"

"Don't call me 'bean sprout'," he argued half-heartedly. She smiled sadly.

"There you go. Come on; think about it, you got off pretty well. No broken bones."

"Yeah…"

"And, uh, no outward bleeding. Not even dangerous internal bleeding, I think. But I bet you've got a nasty bruise. Add that to your scar and you've got an injury sandwich."

"Shut up, Stretch." He said drowsily, forgetting his usual politeness.

"Nice one, kid. Not great but now you have a weapon against 'bean sprout'." His head lolled slightly to the side and his eyes fluttered closed for a second before Celesta slapped his cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked, too tired to sound annoyed.

"You can't pass out now, Allen. You gotta hang tough." True panic rose in her eyes. "Allen, you gotta stay awake. Please."

"Yeah…" he said weakly and rested his head against the Finder's shoulder. _He must be really hurt, _Simon thought. Apparently Celesta thought the same thing and kicked a tree. Her calf made contact with a crunching _smack _and she growled softly in pain and annoyance.

"Godammit, we're too far from headquarters to have really good medical supplies. And now we can't use the ark…" she swore softly. "I can't fly that fast with someone else, either."

"Does this happen often? Bad injuries, I mean?" Simon asked nervously.

"Yeah. But usually we've got a solution." She turned her gaze to Allen. "And usually he's our fall-back, but now he can't even stay awake."

"Oh."

"Yeah, welcome to the job."

They made it to the boat where Link was waiting. His eyes popped open wide as he took in the sight.

"What happened, Treani?"

"There were several Level 3s and we got all but one. Allen got thrown backward from the force of one blowing up and hit a huge rock. He passed out after we got about fifty feet away."

"So that means there's still one more Akuma out there to go tell what happened to whoever is sending them out so close to our tracks?" the two Finders were working on figuring out what was wrong with Allen.

"I was going to go after it. I've got a trick that'll help." She had, until now, kept her ability to open the crossroads secret. But now was the time to use her power. "I know it's gonna get me trouble, big-time, but we need it."

She focused her energy and called out to the Akuma spirit. It came hurtling toward them within a minute and she smiled, lighting into the air and stepping through the shining gash in midair. Link gaped, taken completely by surprise by this whole thing. The Akuma followed suit, crackling into nothing but a pile of ashes.

_She really is powerful,_ he thought. _This isn't really something I can keep secret. _He turned to call headquarters. Simon exchanged a look with him that mirrored exactly what he was thinking:

"What the hell is going on?" Celesta wondered aloud. The Akuma spirit had diminished into nothingness and she stood in the whipping wind. She replayed the scene she had just played out with the Akuma again, trying to find the meaning.

"_Who is sending you after us?" Celesta asked, fighting to keep her voice from being ripped away by the strong winds._

"_The Noah and the Earl. The Earl who doesn't mean much, who will be ripped from his throne when all this changes, Mistress."_

"_When what changes?" the wind took away the arm of the Akuma. It watched it go with a grim interest._

"_The winds are strong, aren't they?"_

"_Yes."_

"_They're singing. Listen to them sing, lalala. They're singing that you're coming down this road too. Soon. Your pretty copper eyes will be blacked out, like your friend's. They say he's still here."_

"_Get back on track, you don't have much time."_

"_Oh yes, the winds are singing of change they're shrieking for the freedom of the outside. They want out and you can let them out, Mistress, yes you can, but you're not listening so you can't do that you can't kill the Earl. You can't let your dying friend kill him either you can't let him open up and show his true self you're letting him die again but you're gonna sing lalala…"_

_All that was left was the shaky structure of the spine and skull, the shoulder blades holding on for dear life._

"_And we'll walk together, you know, forever. Now you're caught again. I already told the Noah you're here but they don't know yet they don't know they're gonna go next. The Earl is going down down down down... lalala sing winds sing…"_

"_I don't understand."_

"_You're not listening yet, Mistress. You don't know it, but they're speaking your language your real language not what you speak to your human 'friends', not what you're speaking to me."_

"_Winds don't speak, or sing."_

"_You're not listening."_

_And with that it blew away on the wind. _

The shrieking winds ripped through her body and she fell onto her hands, turning them to bone for a moment.

"_**You can't let your dying friend kill him either you can't let him open up and show his true self you're letting him die again but you're gonna sing lalala…"**_

_What does that mean? Does that mean Allen's dying? What did it mean, 'again'? Did it-_

_The Musician. I get it now. I've got to, I've got to what?_

"Go back." A soft touch on her arm brought her back to years ago. "Go back and help him. He'll be okay. He can't die yet, he's not allowed. Don't let those mean things scare you, Coyote."

_Delgado?_

"You won't die, either, Coyote. You won't let yourself. That's why I really called you 'Coyote'. You're a survivor." The spirit squeezed her shoulder. "Go on, Coyote. Go help your friends."

Celesta stepped out of the gateway, and the silence of the living world was so deafening she was put off balance. Allen was coming to, it looked like, and Link was standing with his arms folded over his chest. She rolled her eyes and prepared to be bitched out.

"What was that?" the blonde lapdog surprised her.

"I can open the crossroads. Like Hermes, from the Greek myths. I was wanted by the Earl for that. So badly that he sent one of his disciples into my mind and made me think I was going crazy so that I'd leave the Order and they could grab me. It worked for about three days." She saw his look and continued. "I didn't do anything but kick a couple of butts. Calm down."

"Alright. But the Inspector is going to hear about this, and you could easily get called in for questioning." He sighed softly. "I don't think I have the authority to stop anything and I don't think it's smart to keep my mouth shut about this. I'm sorry."

"Wow, is the blond lapdog out of character or what?" she asked, teasing him.

"Hm."

"Hey, thanks. You've been real easy on me. I forgot to thank you before, when I came back from Japan. I get the feeling you talked to the Inspector beforehand and kept me from getting thrown in Vatican jail."

Link simply looked away and got in the boat. Simon began rowing. Link threw a questioning look at Celesta, who still stood on the shore. She shrugged and waved them on, stuck in thoughts.

As soon as they were out of sight, she let the sadness overtake her. Delgado was dead, then. Was it recent? It had to have been.

Tears stung her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away. She should have known it would be hard; any time someone she loved died, she'd probably see them at the crossroads.

"I gotta keep moving. I can't give up now." She took a deep breath to steady herself and prepared to take flight. "I'm not out of the woods yet."

"No, you really aren't." A silky voice whispered into her ear, close enough to feel the breath hot on her skin. "In fact, darling, you've only just set foot in it."

Today just kept getting worse.

_-*-_

A/N: I don't want to hear any complaints in the Simon department. I gave you a chance to vote on his fate and got one vote on my poll to a) blow him up or b) WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I got a vote from Anime-Crazed saying not to kill Celesta, but that was IT! So, I gave you a chance and you all held your peace. So no flames regarding how you wanted Simon to have an Innocence or to be killed in action. Also, I'm sorry our dear blonde lapdog was all OOC-ish. I hate it when people do that unless it's an awesome crack-fic (because then it's hard not to OOC.). Don't kill me.

And on Delgado, I hardly ever keep my characters alive as you know. He's not _gone_ gone, though. Giving you fair warning.

**1** I meant Marie. I'm pretty sure his is an Equipment-type anyway. Sorry if I was wrong, I tend to be a little stupid in that department.

**2 **Right side of the boat in ship lingo.

**3 **Left side of the boat in ship lingo.

Also, for anyone else who is a horror story nut like me, part of the crossroad scene dialogue was inspired by Heart Shaped Box by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill. For anyone who is a fan of Nirvana and understands the connection, Nirvana pays no role other than the fact that the main character writes music not unlike that of Nirvana. I might be forgetting something but I don't think so.

For anyone who way into freaking yourself out to the point where you almost can't sleep, check out Stephen King. He wrote The Shining, most commonly known as the movie. There are also several others, but that's the best known. I'd start with Pet Sematary, if I were you.

Jeez, long author's note. Anyway, please continue to read and enjoy and if it's not too much trouble, review!


	23. Time's So Short

A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger. Don't you hate those so much? :) Anyway, thanks for bearing. I hope. This chapter's theme song is "42" by Coldplay.

WARNING: Celesta's emo?! Oh the angst!

_-*-_

_Link simply looked away and got in the boat. Simon began rowing. Link threw a questioning look at Celesta, who still stood on the shore. She shrugged and waved them on, stuck in thoughts._

_As soon as they were out of sight, she let the sadness overtake her. Delgado was dead, then. Was it recent? It had to have been._

_Tears stung her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away. She should have known it would be hard; any time someone she loved died, she'd probably see them at the crossroads._

"_I gotta keep moving. I can't give up now." She took a deep breath to steady herself and prepared to take flight. "I'm not out of the woods yet."_

"_No, you really aren't." A silky voice whispered into her ear, close enough to feel the breath hot on her skin. "In fact, darling, you've only just set foot in it."_

_Today just kept getting worse._

_-*-_

Celesta whipped around, narrowly missing smacking Tyki's face with her shoulder. Not that she would have really minded. He took a step back as she tensed up, ready for whatever she knew how to defend.

And to improvise whatever else came her way.

But, as Tyki's feral gaze locked on hers Celesta wasn't so sure. Her heart was in her throat, and she hoped, prayed, that he wasn't going to kill her. That that wasn't his aim. She knew what he could do. She knew he could rip her heart from her chest, right now, if he wanted to.

How many times had death come knocking on her door? How often had she moved just in time? How often had she been this petrified by- by anyone?

Tyki had an almost bored look, like dealing with her wasn't worth his time. "Hm. I guess you're not as wet-behind-the-ears as you were the last time we met." Celesta set her jaw, still scared, but miffed by his petty- yet stinging- insult. "But a scared little exorcist is nothing I can't handle."

Celesta thought about giving him the bird, but instead chose to go on the moderately offensive by activating the Minotaur. The white bull stood, pawing the dirt, beside the lanky girl. Tyki looked surprised- or was that her imagination?

"You don't answer anything I say." He said.

"Wastes time."

To punctuate her remark, Celesta's Minotaur charged the Portuguese man, who was actually hit. Celesta was so proud of herself she missed the Teez sent directly at her head.

_Oh crap---_

Her body, acting of its own accord, flicked its wrist and brought the bull whip across the Teez's wings, leaving seared marks where they were burnt through. A bloodcurdling shriek issued from the odd creature's fragile body.

Still surprised and unsure as to what to do next, Celesta completely missed the air being sucked from around her, then blown back, sending her straight into the water.

"Too easy." Tyki muttered, watching the Minotaur falter and fade. "I hate it when people overestimate themselves and become stupidly gallant."

_-*-_

_And then blackness loomed close up against my skin,_ Celesta thought stupidly as the water buffeted her from all sides. _Driving all sensibility into retreat- no that's not right. Let's try this again. And then the black loomed close up against my skin, snuffing out even those damning lips- I think I got it wrong again…_

The blackness did indeed loom close up against her skin as she was dragged farther down- or was it higher up? It was impossible for her tell in these dangerously dark waters.

_Am I going to die here, too?_ The spirits swirled as she reached toward them, silently begging for their help. _No, wait! Don't go!_ Her vision blurred and finally went dark.

_-*-_

"Where do you think Celesta is?" Allen croaked. He was still tired from his little accident. "I thought we; have seen her by now."

"I'm sure I don't know, Walker. Sit _down_, we're moving!" the blonde lapdog snapped and dragged the white-haired teen into a more-or-less sitting position. "The best thing we can do now is to keep heading for Tibet. Treani knows where we're going and will undoubtedly meet us there if not sooner!"

"I don't know…" Simon almost-whispered. "Something doesn't feel right!"

"Yeah." Allen replied, looking back toward the shore. "Link, can't we just-"

"No!"

"But she's my- our friend!"

Link turned on him, eyes flashing dangerously. "This is a war! Your 'friends' are going to die all the time! Now sit _down_, Walker, and accept that we'll meet her later!"

Biting off nasty remarks, Allen sent the bodyguard a dirty look and sat down, daring the older man to look away. Something unspoken had gone between them, a lightning bolt that severed any trust or comradeship in their professional relationship. The boat continued in absolute silence.

_-*-_

Celesta blinked the water from her eyes. Shaking out her wet hair like a dog (she thought stupidly of Link getting wet and almost snickered), she noticed how bright everything was. Too bright.

"Ow," she muttered, feeling the back of her shoulder where she thought she had hit it. "Damn."

"You're stupid." A voice, not distinctly male or female, said. "So stupid. Why did you waste time being sad when there's a war going on? You knew you could be attacked and you just _stood_ there."

"You know, my mom always said it was rude to not introduce yourself." Celesta narrowed her eyes to block some of the light. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"Yeah, coz that's really helpful."

A soft rumble from the trees put Celesta on the defensive. The Minotaur pushed its way through a clump of bushes into the clearing she stood in. "Does this help?" it asked.

Agape, Celesta simply nodded. _I'm dead. I'm most definitely dead._

"You're not dead. Not yet anyway." The Minotaur sat back on its haunches and yawned like an odd sort of lion. "Ever heard of nirvana? Limbo? The River Styx?" Celesta thought randomly of the river she had drowned in.

"Well, duh, I didn't grow up under a rock."

"Sometimes I wonder."

Celesta chose to ignore that comment. "So, what is this place? Your riddles did me no good."

"It's Almost."

"Come again?"

"Almost, you twit!" The Minotaur growled. "This place is called Almost! It's the waiting room of those deemed Almost-good or Almost-bad to wait until Judgment Day to pass onto wherever they next go!"

"Yeah, coz that totally explains it."

Leaping to its feet, the Minotaur paced back and forth. "No one knows what Almost is. That is all we know."

"I still don't get why I'm here. You just said I'm not dead."

"Not _yet._"

"Still not helpful. Either I'm dead or I'm not. Comas don't count." She folded her arms across her chest, wincing at the pull on her hurt muscles. "So tell me what I am, or at least why I'm here."

"I'll tell you why you are, then."

"Grah! Stop with the goddamn riddles! _Some_body give me a straight answer _for once_!"

"That, I'm afraid, would be impossible. That's simply not how a world works."

"Okay, I got it. Step one to living in a world: everything is a riddle. Step two: you are neither dead nor alive, but you are. Step three: Innocence apparently takes on a life of its own. Step four: _lay off the drugs!_"

"How do you know I'm Innocence?"

"Do I even have to answer!"

"No." the bull-creature watched the Mistress of the Crossroads with a grim awe. "That is the wonder of this world. You have free choice to live your own life."

"Nobody would want my life! I hate it!"

"Why?"

"What are you, some kind of therapist? I don't care why! Things just get screwed up when I show up!" She kicked a tree, delighting in the fact she could still feel pain. She couldn't be all dead then.

"How do you know? What if you were the only thing to make it right?"

Celesta glowered at it. "Your turn to explain."

"What I mean is, you're a very strong presence. Things seem to be messed up only because you didn't stay to see the resolution. It's like the saying," Celesta gritted her teeth, knowing, and not liking, where this was going.

"It's always darkest right before the sun rises." They said in unison. The Minotaur nodded. "Your brother used to say that."

"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped weakly. "I hate this. I hate him. I'm tired of lying. I was just a passing thing for him. I know that. When I was born, his father left and died within four years of my birth. He hated me for that. I messed up everything for him, took away his future because his mom got crazy after that, like Ophelia in Hamlet. He tried to help her, but I was the river and I sucked everything down and still hurt everyone in my community. I've never done anything truly helpful to anyone. Not on my own."

"You've only lived nineteen years, Mistress. Don't set yourself up to fail by thinking that way."

Celesta snorted in reply. The Minotaur sighed and turned to leave. "Try your powers to their limit. You might find something you're good for. Remember this:

"Death is your gift."

Celesta twitched, not liking this dark premonition.

The bull paced away. "Use it wisely."

Only then did the water come rushing back, the blackness a cold kiss to wake her again.

_-*-_

"It feels… empty." Simon whispered to Allen as they tried to sleep.

"Yeah."

"I can't sleep knowing she might be out there looking for us."

"Yeah."

"What do you think she's doing right now?"

Allen bit down what he really thought she was doing, or what had happened to her an instead said "Probably sleeping."

"You think so?"

"She knows how to survive. She'll sleep, if only to hold off fatigue."

"Oh."

"Go to sleep, I can hear you." Link called from the other room (really an emptied closet) where he sat doing paperwork. Allen thanked his few and dying lucky stars he had been excused from _this_ round of signing and reading and confusion.

"Ears like a dog, too." Allen snickered as Simon clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle the giggle fit.

"Is the pot calling the kettle back?"

"What does that even mean?" Simon hissed.

"I have no idea!"

"I thought you were smart!"

"I am smart! I just don't understand half of what Link says!"

"I can still hear you."

"Goodnight!" the teens called in unison.

Link shook his head and went back to his papers. _Dammit, Treani!_ He internally cursed. _I thought you would be back with us by now! What happened?_

Shaking his head, angry for being so worked up over it, he waited for the angry earful he was certain to get from the Inspector. As if on cue, his thoughts were interrupted by the impatient beeping of his transmitter.

"Yes, sir?"

"Howard Link!"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you regained contact with the Treani girl?"

"No, sir."

"Have you any idea as to how terrible this is?"

"No, sir."

"If the enemy got a hold of her- again- it could be disastrous! Find her before things get any worse than they already are!"

"Sir?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"No, sir."

"You've seen how she is. So arrogant. Now, with her powers evolving as you have told me, it is of the utmost importance she stay under close watch so that the enemy can't turn her against us!"

"Sir, that won't happen."

"What if she's like her father? What then?"

"Sir?"

"The 14th, you dimwit! If she allows herself to be drawn in, she could be dangerous to us, to them, to everyone! You don't want that to happen!"

"No, sir."

"Good. Find her, Howard Link, or it will be _your_ head."

The transmission ended and Link was left unshaken. Life threats were just part of his job.

But finding Treani… that would be tough if she had been captured again by the Noah. Sighing, he prepared for another long, long day.

_-*-_

Well, I didn't want to leave you hanging and hanging. There will probably be spots of angst and simple strangeness after Celesta's brush with death. Yeah, she doesn't exactly handle that well.

Celesta: God dammit, why do you hate me?!

Because it's so much fun to write plots with death.

Celesta: Well, at least I've got wings. I can hold that over your head~.

… -anger mark-

Anyway, would you, if you have qualms with death-before-love, please explain what "get them together" means in this story? I'm confused. Because to me, for this story, Celesta and Lavi are about as together as they're gonna get. But I live for my readers, so I'll take your opinions into account.

Celesta: HEY! Ask me first! I don't want to be put into a prostitute-role just so you people can have a smex scene! See a different story for that!

Celesta! Shut up!

Still dearly yours, Shii


	24. Cloud Nine

A/N: So. Celesta and her brush with death. This is gonna be fun. This chapter's theme song is "Cloud Nine" by Evanescence. I don't own DGM. OBVIOUSLY.

NOTE: Please see chapter 10 to understand the thing about the Will of the Wisp becoming a lion.

The dark water flooded Celesta's vision as she flailed for shore, hitting her arms and legs on large rocks. Pain shot up the struck appendages and she tried to force her way upward. _Hermes Revival- Wings of the Muses!_ Nothing. _For fuck's sake, Wings of the Muses! Help me!_

Her Innocence did nothing as the river stole her last breaths. _Help! _ Water bubbled into her mouth. _Hermes Revival! Where are you?_

A great wave churned and she dropped onto a cold shore. Coughing and sputtering, Celesta dragged herself away from the undertow and into the dark (blissfully dark, not like the green of the water) and cold. Pain flooded her limbs as she moved, making her feel more alive with every handprint on the cold purple shore.

Blinking water from her eyes, she sat back on her haunches and looked around. Soft chimes sounded far away, bringing her back farther. "Dear God, tell me this isn't happening again…" the moan in her throat was choked off by the dry, racking sobs of joy and fear. The snow from the last lost dreams was gone, replaced instead by the unending blackness threatening to swallow her whole.

She closed her ears and waited for it to be over. It _always_ ended.

"Link!" Allen ran up to his guard, who had been dutifully avoiding him as much as possible the last twenty-dour hours. "I have to talk to you!"

"What is it, Walker?" Link asked.

"We have to go back."

Link had been dreading this conversation for the past two days. _Treani, you'd better show up soon, _he thought furiously. "No."

"Why?" Allen was suddenly uncharacteristically angry. "What would it do to hurt anyone?"

"It would set us back another four days to look for her. We need to get to Tibet before the enemy does."

"…Is that really all you care about?"

"I am required to answer yes."

Allen's gaze turned steely. "I was wrong. You're just like the rest of them." He turned and paced back to the room they were staying in. Link turned and continued on his way. _Don't get too attached. Winning this war is all that matters. _ He would've winced at the words.

"Sir Walker?" Simon was getting nervous watching the angry white-haired tornado throw all his belongings into his suitcase. "Allen Walker? Allen? Allen!"

Finally the older teen looked up. "What is it?"

"You're scaring me. What's going on?"

Allen ran a hand through his already-mussed hair. "I'm worried about Celesta. If she got hurt after we had left…" he sighed. "Two days is a long time in war. It's enough time to be killed or captured and no-one would ever know."

Simon gleaned his meaning. "You can't go _alone_!" Allen looked surprised. "I mean, you got hurt badly, and so you can't fight so well. What if we run into some Noah or something?"

"Then come with me."

Simon realized there was no way out. _Me and my big mouth_.

Celesta finally woke, her arms tired from holding her head to her knees. The unending blackness still surrounded her. She shivered. "I need to give my subconscious a pep-talk."

"Undoubtedly." The Minotaur paced to where she lay in the snow drifts. It looked her over, cold and wet, ice crystals forming in her ebony hair and along her eye lashes. It dropped to its belly with a huff and curled around its mistress. "You're cold."

"I just escaped a river," She replied, shivering more violently now that heat had been applied to her body. "And then ended up freezing my butt off here."

"You're lucky you didn't die of hypothermia."

"But this is Almost, correct? I can't die in the land of the dead."

The bull grimaced. "You'd be surprised how often we die."

Celesta hummed a couple bars of some kind of melody in reply. "What are you doing?" the white bull turned to her, confused.

"Humming. It's a nervous habit." She ran a hand through hair, and then glowered at the appendage. "As is that. I've _got_ to stop that."

The Minotaur didn't reply this time.

"Allen, do you know where we're going?" Simon asked. His feet hurt from the last two hours of walking they had done. "I think I've seen that tree four times."

"Uh…" Allen looked around. He had been so lost in thought he had forgotten which direction they had come from. "I think you might be right. Um. Okay. Let's try going left." Simon rolled his eyes and followed. "If we get close to the river we'll hear it. Believe me." Allen continued. Simon just wrote down "Left" in his log and ignored his furious feet.

Celesta woke again, this time not cold but not warm, still dripping and with aching shoulders from a steady burn spreading over her entire back. She lifted her sore wings off the shore, scowling at the huge amount of bleeding and bruised flesh across her body. "At least the dream ended," she murmured.

She dragged herself across the shore so she wouldn't be as wet and reached into her pocket for her golem, long since been on standby. _I hope this thing's waterproof._ Obviously not. She suddenly felt her throat close up. Fighting the tears threatening her, she forced her way into a standing position. _Please please please tell me I'm close to where the rest of my friends are._ Painfully taking steps forward, she lurched her way to a clearing, holding her shoulder. The blood seeped from her wet jacket into her hand, filling the cracks between her fingers.

_Follow the Will 'o the Wisps,_ her Innocence commanded. Too tired to object she looked around for anything that could pass for a fairy lightning bug. Suddenly, a blue light buzzed around her. It chirped and whizzed away, pausing before the tree line, where it expanded and fell to the ground as a lion. It chuffed and flicked its tail.

"Okay, then," Celesta winced and tried to keep up with the lion's bounding steps. "Hey, slow down!"

"Allen!" Simon yelled. "Allen!" the two had gotten separated and now Simon couldn't find his friend. "Allen? Where are you!"

Celesta heard this, as did Allen. Both began running (or hobbling faster, as Celesta did) toward the sound. Celesta caught a flicker of something in the trees running alongside her. She activated her Innocence and cracked the Herdsman's Whip across the tree line. A branch fell and the lion disappeared. _I know you're out there,_ she thought viciously.

Allen held back a yelp of surprise as the huge crystalline thing came flying at him. The silvery coyote he'd been following (hence the fact Simon got left behind) backed off and spread into a million tiny pinpricks of light. He ran a few feet away from where he had been, hoping to see his new companion.

Simon heard the crash of branches and shivered. He looked around with paranoia and waited for someone to come for him.

"Allen? Somebody?" Something was moving in the shadows surrounding the open copse he stood in. "Hey, Allen? Where are you?" Whatever it was moved closer. Simon felt his eyes wetted with fearful tears. "Allen…"

Allen finally broke through the trees into the clearing, seeing Simon frozen with fear as a _something_ moved through the brush in front of him. It had bright white eyes as it slid out from the trees, a large circular shadow floating across the ground.

"Allen…" Simon croaked as the mousy boy involuntarily took a step forward. "Help," he gasped. The exorcist had never seen anything like that before. It was way out of his league. "Please," he begged again, eyes locked on the ground as he tookanother lurching step forward. "Help me!"

Celesta gasped at this. _What the hell is that thing?_

_It's from the crossroads, Mistress. Don't you remember? 'The winds are singing.' Learn how to speak with them._

Celesta listened, feeling stupid, and heard a voice, raspy and oily at the same time, speaking from the ground.

"_Fresh meat" _was all she had to hear before she brought another crack of her whip down across the black creature's body. It recoiled with a hiss and piled itself up so it was thicker if not smaller. It turned its bright opal gaze on her. _"Ruined my meal. Next victim,"_ it snarled. She curled her lip in reply and prepared to strike.

Simon fell to the ground, still locked with fear. "W-What is that?" he gasped as Allen dragged him closer to the trees.

"I don't know." He admitted. "But I do know only Celesta can hurt it or it would be after me, as well."

Celesta's blood dripped down onto the ground and the creature lunged to get at the bright crimson drops. She sidestepped it and brought down the whip again. The creature screamed loud enough to make the boys' blood run cold. Celesta felt her eardrums pop.

"Ugh!" she groaned and dropped to the ground, on her knees. _I can't do this! How can I-_

_Give up now and that thing eats your friends. Believe in yourself._

_Yeah, uh huh, got it. You forgot one thing: HOW?_

The Minotaur was silent. The black oozed across the ground. _"Take your little self home, human. You don't know what you're dealing with."_

"I'd say the same thing," Celesta gasped, before invoking her wings and soaring across the ground, pulling into a steep incline along the trees. She flipped in midair and slammed down onto the ground, pulling straight through the slicing oil and soil before opening the crossroads again.

Unlike any other time, she could see what it looked like. "Whoa…" the winds swirled in dizzying circles, a song carrying across them. Everything appeared to be cloaked in ice, but she could see the dim outline of trees and a river.

In a way, it reminded her of Almost.

The winds viciously crashed through her, and the voice of them was overpowering. "_Death! Death is your gift!"_

Unable to breathe, she struggled against the screaming and the light and finally broke away, landing face down on the blackened soil. _Next time, remember when you leave the crossroads, so as not to break your nose._

"Celesta!" Allen yelled from somewhere above her.

"Yeah..?" she replied weakly, rolling over. "You're a long way up."

"You broke through the ground pretty far. Hold on, we'll help you up!"

"…Kay."

"That was highly inappropriate," Link scolded after Celesta had bandaged her arm and was awake. "All three of you should be ashamed of yourself."

"Uh, what did I do?" Celesta asked.

"You shouldn't have let yourself get into trouble." He replied. "Now, come along."

Celesta smiled to herself. _He was actually worried about us. How cute._

"We should keep moving. We've been set back so many times now." He said curtly.

"Yeah, yeah. Got it." Celesta said and prepared to invoke her Innocence so as to lead the way of the little log of death.

"No." Link said. "In the boat, Treani."

_Why me..?_

A/N: Sorry it took so long! I became My Own Worst Editor and rewrote this damn thing _six times_. Gah! I think that might be why I'm so profane for the first part. Ah. Ya know, it's rated Teen for a reason. Sometimes, you just gotta say it.

Oh yeah, I've decided I either want to rewrite the first 5 or 6 chapters of Black Lace or simply tell you guys to believe it doesn't technically start until about chapter 4. I read over what I had written, and realized how much my original plot changed. I'm very sorry to those of you confused. Believe this: Celesta had an older brother and a mom, but her father was the 14th; Celesta can fly; Allen and Celesta are NOT related (for the record); Celesta has now technically died. Otherwise, everything else is the same. Okay? Good. I'll get around to rewriting… later.

Thanks for putting up with me. Scatterbrain! D: As always, please review!


	25. The End of Days and Author's Note

A/N: This is the pivotal chapter before the end of this story. I hope it befits your hunger. I don't own DGM. This chapter's theme song is "Sweet Sacrifice" by Evanescence.

**Tibet**

Celesta didn't pay attention to how long it took to get to Tibet- everything felt unreal. She longed to be back, she'd admit, in the silent world of Almost. These places, the farther east they got, grew worse and worse in condition. It felt like death would be the best option, after seeing part of what it was. But then again, the feeling…

"It's like Edo spread itself across all of Asia," Allen remarked softly. Celesta nodded. Her shoulder had healed well enough to fly with, and all broken bones had healed. One upside to being a Parasite-type!

"How far do you think we are?" She asked the blonde lapdog.

"Here, whenever we start seeing things that look like Innocence." He replied, curt as always. Celesta rolled her eyes.

There was a huge crash in the trees, like some kind of wild boar was running rampant across the forest. Suddenly, the noise stopped. "Wonder what that was," Celesta said, watching the coast. "Probably a boar."

Allen nodded. "Yeah," he said, but watched the coast as warily as his partner. A roar sounded, not a natural animal noise, either- something big and ferocious. Really, really big and ferocious.

"Celesta! To the trees, 4-30!" Allen motioned, and Celesta lurched upward at the angel he had asked. Her wings glinted softly in the cloudy light, and the ground below was a mottle of greys and greens. _Where are you…_ Celesta thought. There was a pulsing nearby, as if something huge was being birthed from the sky. _What's going on?_

_The apocalypse._

Celesta barely had time to think before a silvery flame spread across the land, a pentacle. In the center, the ground split and a huge metal spike rose from the ground. Another split upward, uprooting trees as it ascended from the ground. More came up, creating a pair of black horns and a line of spikes down a ridged back. _Is that an Akuma?_ Celesta looked for her friends on the ground, but found none. She dove straight down, scared out of her usually present wits. "Allen! Simon!" The wind screeched in her ears. "Allen! Link! Simon! Where are you?"

Another spine broke through the earth, and Celesta nearly got gored. "Ah!" she bit her lip as the barbed end scratched her arm.

"Celesta!" Allen waved to her from several yards away. "Over here!"

Celesta wasted no time in flying through the entrance to the Ark. "What the hell was that!" She gasped, out of breath.

"I think it was an Akuma." Allen admitted. "But it was huge! I've never seen anything like it!"

"This may be the apocalypse, the Ragnarok, whatever you want to call it." Link said. "It's dangerous, and it's not the only one." He eyed Celesta. "Do you know what it is?"

"No." She said. "But it felt evil- really, truly, evil. There was no love, or humanity to it. It was painful to be near." She turned back to the group. "We have to defeat it."

**London, the Black Order**

"So let me get this straight- in every place you exorcists were, there was a giant Akuma?" Komui asked, standing in the now crowded office he usually worked in. All the exorcists were gathered, looking beaten or scared. All nodded. "And you think there may be more?"

"They popped out of the ground!" Lenalee almost-screeched. "Who's to say there aren't _more_?"

"Komui, we have to fight. There's no choice." Kanda growled, hand clasped around Mugen's hilt.

"How can we fight it if we don't even know what it is?" Cloudnyne replied. "I say we observe them until we can understand what they're doing."

"If we wait, innocent people could die!" Allen snapped. "They're Akuma! We fight Akuma!"

Chaos ensued until Komui stood and yelled for silence. "Be that as it may, we'd be wiped out if we were to try to fight until we know what they do."

"…What?" Allen looked devastated. "Let them kill people because we're too afraid to die?"

Celesta snapped out of her meditation. "That's it!"

Everyone turned to face the winged exorcist. "What's it?" Miranda asked.

"Death. We're afraid to die, but what if someone who's already dead-"

"No!" Allen and Lavi yelled together.

"We have to do _some_thing!" She replied. "It'll be easy. I swear. I can open the crossroads and suck the monsters back in. It's easy."

Silence draped over the office again. Finally, Komui spoke.

"I-If you're willing, it's our best option. Everyone, prepare for battle. We're bring the creatures here, to London."

**Black Order**

Lavi found Celesta, strapping some kind of armor to her lower arms. He knew he should be getting ready, but this felt more important.

"Don't do it."

Celesta looked up, surprised. "What?"

"You know what! I can't stand it! Why are you suddenly so valiant?"

"I have to be."

"No, you don't!"

"I'm the only one who can!"

"You just don't get it!" Lavi grabbed her roughly by the wrists. "If everyone works together, we can get rid of them! Why do you need to do this?"

"If you think it's for glory, it's not!" she yelled. "You think I _want_ to die? No! I hate the thought! I have died! It hurts!" Lavi's grip loosened and she pulled back. She focused on a point far away, her voice barely a whisper. "That feeling… I'm afraid. I'm afraid of dying."

"Then why are you going to do this?" Lavi asked, voice soft. "You don't have to."

"I do," she murmured. "I've been told by the forces I'm supposed to unleash: Death is my gift. I'm sorry."

The pain in her heart was mirrored in his eyes. "You're just going to throw your life away?"

"From what I've heard, you've tried it before." She smirked, though her eyes were sad. "Maybe… maybe, I'll leave a legacy. My life isn't being thrown away, but _remembered._"

"I would've remembered your life even if you didn't die to save everyone else's." Lavi wrapped his arms around her. "Please, don't leave me."

"I'm sorry," She looked into his eyes. "This sounds beyond dumb, but, if I do die, I promise to find a way back to you."

**In the Ark, Tibet gate**

"Ready?" Komui asked, his voice travelling through the headset under Celesta's aviator helmet. She thought it was overkill, but when she saw the amount of debris all around, decided it was worth it. The goggles felt tight and the arm bands felt awkward, but they were ignorable. The part that was harder to ignore were her doubts and the pain in her heart. She snorted a soft chuckle. _I'm so dumb, getting caught up in my emotions. I need to become stoic and focused. This is for the sake of everyone._

Tiedoll appeared to be praying beside her before Allen opened the gate. "Ready?" She asked. He looked up at her.

"As long as you are." The elderly man smiled reassuringly. Celesta nervously replied with one of her own. _To think- I lived my whole life as an outcast in Skelling, I became an exorcist and was plagued by demons, inner and outer…I fell in love… and now, I take pleasure and comfort in the fact that a man I've only met in passing is willing to smile at me before I make my fatal move._

_Ready?_

_Ready._

"Here we go," Celesta spread her wings at Komui's OK and launched into the air, spiraling upward. The Akuma-thing was still climbing from the earth as she watched Tiedoll evacuate the area by holding the current survivors in the Garden of Embrace.

_Just like we planned. Now my part of the deal,_ Celesta crashed into the ground at maximum speed, creating huge craters that enabled the Akuma to move more freely. It screamed as she repeatedly hit its sides and limbs under the ground.

"**Is everything going all right on your end?"** Tiedoll's voice through her earpiece.

"Yeah," She yelled back, trying to be heard over the sound of crashing trees. "The moving mountain I was supposed to investigate was this, apparently. It's coming up fast."

"**I can see how a force under the ground would appear mountain-like,"** Tiedoll allowed. **"It looks like it's coming up fast. Be prepared, Treani. Good luck, and Godspeed."**

"Thanks," Celesta focused on the creature, now freed of its confinement.

It raised its huge, skull-like head. The sunken, black eyes narrowed as it saw the exorcist. Swiping the air with its huge claws, it lumbered after her. The roar of the creature was deafening. It was smaller than they had though, but still roughly ten feet tall. In other words, tall and built like a tank. "I'm headed for London, keep the gate open!" Celesta yelled into the transmitter to be heard over the crashing of trees and rumble of thunder from the creature's body.

"**All right,"** Allen replied, staying behind on the Ark until all the Akuma were "safely" in London.

Celesta Hounded the creature into the ark, using the crossroads' winds to send it flying through the open gate. London now had three of the "four horses of the Apocalypse", as they were currently being called. The fourth soon arrived from South America.

"Ready?" Celesta asked into the transmitter.

A chorus of 'readys' sounded into her head piece. On the ground, she could see the rest of Order, prepared for the worst.

The Horses suddenly split into bits, and reformed slowly. "Oh, god, no," Celesta murmured, as the Horses reshaped into a huge tank, reaching up into the sky. It was almost dragon-like, but more like a larger and spikier version of the four.

"This was not in the description," Sokaro muttered.

"Be lucky you're not up there," Lavi snapped. Sokaro eyed him, but brushed it off as teen angst.

The creature finished itself and roared, shaking the ground. Celesta sent her whip cracking across the creature's head. It turned, one eye searing from the blow, and tried to snap her up in its jaws. The long, thin, alabaster teeth scared her, coming too close for comfort. A loud screech, like fingernails on a chalkboard, alerted Celesta to Allen's Edge End slashing across the strong armor of the reformed Horse. Blood bloomed across the fissures in weak joint areas, and the Horse staggered before swinging a massive paw across the ground.

"Get down!" Commanded Sokaro, and the entire company ducked. Several random Finders were swept upward, smashing against the ground or being gored by claws. Their bodies, tiny in comparison, hit the ground like broken dolls.

"**Help me out!"** Celesta said, voice tense and cracking with pressure. **"I can't do anything if I get eaten!"**

Lenalee launched skyward, smashing the Horse's arm straight off. It's tail, long and dangerous, swung upward to whip her off its back. "Watch yourself!" Celesta yelled, grabbing the tail in her whip and tearing it off with a flick of her wrist.

The blood spread over the ground, the crimson tears that began and ended the war.

**On the ground, the non-flying group of exorcists**

Kanda knew it was stupid and radical at a time like this, but he threw Mugen straight upward and lodged it in the Horse's chest. Now how to get up there as it writhed in pain and fury…

"Need a hand?" Lavi called, prepared for launch more skyward. Kanda nodded his thanks and accepted the extended offer, and hand. The two landed on the Horse's shoulder, and Kanda jumped for his sword, hanging off it until able to find a foothold. _Not one of my better-thought-out plans…_ he thought. _Baka._

Cloudnyne sent Lau against the Horse, both being roughly the same size. The monkey snarled and ripped the Horse's arm off. It fell as the substantial damage done to it took its toll. "Yes!" Komui said, watching from the ground. "Celesta, are you ready?"

"**Get everyone out of the way,"** she said. Holding a knife in her hand, she focused her energy. The air rippled and tore around her, the winds causing the sky to flap as if it were made of paper. The sky tore open, the winds snarling and screaming around her. She gritted her teeth and tried to find her arm, bringing the tip of the knife to it.

"By the blood of the sacrifice, the Gift of Death and the Debt of Blood is repaid. By the blood of the Mistress of the Crossroads, listen to her whim." The scarlet drops fell into the fray, the winds swirling into something almost solid and wrapping their claws about her.

"_The gift is accepted,"_ the roar sounded, rasping like sandpaper on her eardrums. The blood fell faster as the knife plunged deeper into her arm.

"Ow!" Celesta gasped, the silver edge of the knife scraping her bone. Her hand was stained with her own blood, the winds stained as they released her and swept to the Horse. _Hold on, do this and everything will be fine…_

The blackness flooded her field of vision and she fell from the sky, her wings breaking in the winds she had freed. The blood had stained the glass, and the cracks and fissures spread more blood, the debt being repaid and the control over the winds she had growing. _Destroy the monstrosity and save the others, _she thought a command.

On blood-painted wings, she fell to earth.

**Almost**

In the world of unchanging, time had shifted. The world was turned slightly and was different than it was. The Minotaur looked up, scenting the air. "The Mistress…" it snorted.

It stood and growled softly. "If only she wasn't human, this time. Then maybe she wouldn't have made that fatal mistake." It looked around at the slowly cooling world, ice forming on the trees. "Stupid girl mistook the meaning of what I said."

The sky above darkened, the last roars of the apocalyptic nightmare drifting away as the winds swept through, carrying the dead girl's body. The blood on her body was almost artistic, painted across her body.

"Maybe in her next life, she may be able to take her gift as what it is." The Minotaur walked toward the Mistress, and breathed lightly on her skin.

Celesta drew in a shuddering breath, gasping and coughing as she woke. "I'm back in Almost," she gasped.

"Yes." The Minotaur replied softly. "But it isn't meant to be. You haven't fulfilled your gift."

"Yes I did," Celesta coughed. "'Death is my gift', you said it yourself. I died to save everyone. Isn't that a gift? The world?"

"Of course." The Minotaur sat back on its haunches. "But not the gift you were to bring. You were to find Death, let it speak through you. I see now I should have told you what your gift truly was."

"That's what I kept _saying_, but no one listened. Everything had to be a riddle."

"For that, I apologize."

"Good."

"It's your turn."

"What?"

"To apologize."

"For what?" Celesta was very confused. "What did I do?"

"You made a promise to the red-haired boy. That you would return to him." The Minotaur huffed a sigh. "You made that promise on your deathbed, and so you must uphold the tradition of fulfilling it."

"Wait, that's not what I meant. I meant I wouldn't die, not completely."

"You've already died once. You only get two chances."

"Can I get another chance? Please!" Celesta had gone hysteric. "I thought going to Almost meant you were Almost-dead! Not dead-dead!"

"There's a chance that if you can find a Valkyrie, you can make your presence known and perhaps eventually find a way out of Almost."

"What's a Valkyrie?"

"Someone close to death. An assassin, perhaps, or another Mistress of the Crossroads."

"How do I do it then?" Celesta asked, exasperated. "If I can find a Valkyrie, do I pop back into existence?"

"No." The Minotaur scoffed. "You can't make something of nothing. These things take time. A Valkyrie must be compatible and accept your existence in Almost. As long as you keep the connection and they don't die, when the true Judgment day comes, you may be allowed back to the world of the living."

"I become a parasite, you mean?" Celesta's hope vanished and was replaced by her virtue. "I can't do that. I've lived through sharing my mind with someone I don't want there. I can't do that to another person."

"I'm afraid you promised. You can't go back now."

Celesta sighed, choking back tears and thought hard. _If I could go back, I could see Lavi again. I could see my friends and fly again and fight the Akuma and continue doing what I loved. But can I take over someone's life like that?_

"I need to think!" and Celesta ran off from the clearing.

The Minotaur disappeared into the trees, the snow falling on its head. "My dear, you'd better make up your mind. The winds don't wait even for the Mistress."

**Almost**

Celesta had made her hardest decision. She found the Minotaur, laying beneath the falling leaves of a winter-clad tree. It looked up at her as she entered the clearing.

"I have to do it. I know I can."

**Black Lace and Painted Wings- End.**

**I apologize to those of you hoping for more. There will be, obviously, but my old Muse left me and was replaced by a new one. She's friendly and hyper but actually keeps me on one story plot. So, there will be a second Black Lace I will begin working on immediately.**

**Thank you so much for staying with me through all of this, the good, the bad, the awkward, the crappy, the excellent, the cute, the ugly, the insomnia… :D for that, I am eternally grateful.**

**I apologize for the sudden ending, but I couldn't continue Painted Wings anymore. I am ashamed to admit it, but my life has changed dramatically the last year and I've found Wings doesn't keep up with me anymore. Celesta remains, and always will remain, a character I am attached to, but if you love something, you have to let it go. And so I let the bird fly off.**

**The next story, Black Lace and Crimson Tears, will be much darker. The Valkyrie I have chosen is a werewolf and exists in the 21****st**** century. I do like her so far and she and Celesta don't seem to completely hate each other. I know some people hate the idea of OCs and stories continuing in a chronicle, but I feel it's necessary if I don't want Wings anymore but need to tell this story. Thank you for dealing with my confusing and fickle demeanor.**

**Next, my newest Muse is very friendly and likes to talk about things. Her name is Lolo, and she doesn't shy away from people like Shii does. Lolo will be more than willing to answer questions and will generally do my author's notes. I may sound crazy, but it's the insomnia speaking. I've developed voices and personalities. Lolo may show up in Tears only because I need her to be another Valkyrie.**

**Finally, I give all of you my deepest thanks. Those who have read, reviewed, alerted, offered advice, been brutally honest with me, have taken a chainsaw to my neck, have yelled at me, stroked my ego, put up with my fickleness, and just been all-out-supportive. I promise to put up an extended thank you video on YouTube. This may take a while, so I will alert you in Tears if you stay with me until then.**

**With my best wishes and kindest smiles and cookies and soba for all, I send you on your way and hope you continue to do the things you love to do. Dearly yours, Shii.**


End file.
